


Makes a bee think of honey just as I think of you

by why_didnt_i_get_any_soup



Series: Yet I Can't Imagine You Want Me, Too [2]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: (but not really just tagging in case kissing outside of relationships bugs anyone), Alcohol, Bespin, Bodily Fluids, Diplomacy, Drinking, F/M, Grooming, Hand Jobs, Infidelity, Kissing, Lothal, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Mercenaries, Multi, Nightmares, Nipple Licking, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sex, Sex Talk, Sexual Content, Sexual Inexperience, Swimming, Threesome, Threesome - F/M/M, Trauma, Vaginal Fingering, no drunk sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-05-13 03:35:18
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 26,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5693047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/why_didnt_i_get_any_soup/pseuds/why_didnt_i_get_any_soup
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Resistance regroups after the New Republic is destroyed by the Starkiller</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Poe grew up on a moon—though he didn’t really know it was a moon, at the time—and he didn’t even really know the name of until he left. It had a name, of course. But he mostly thought of it as “home.” It was warm and green and it meant community, camaraderie. They settled there with a community after a battle that his mother didn’t talk about much. He wished he had heard more from her than having to read it in her file years later, but he couldn’t change the past.

It was around the time he was 12 or 13 that the First Order had a name, the first time it was finally starting to be taken seriously or talked about by the New Republic Senate and other Republic entities. Of course, the entire universe seemed to be split between the Empire (First Order) and the Republic, many not even really aware of the Alliance. Sometimes people were undecided, sometimes even becoming collateral in the Civil War. And Poe always knew they were in a war, even in his early years on Yavin 4. He was born during a war, and there were always faces blurring around him, clapping him on the shoulder, and telling him he would do big things when he got older, just like his parents. They were right.

The Resistance moved around a lot. But, despite how much they moved around and how many planets or moons he lived on, he would always have a soft spot for D’Qar. Not because they had been there for almost seven years, but because it was where he first met Rey. And it was where he first saw Finn after he thinking the former Stormtrooper was dead from their crash on Jakku. But it was also the planet that he watched Rey take off with Chewie and no clear return date. It was the planet where he watched over Finn while he healed in the hospital, his voice weak and his lips pale when he was awake.

Poe personally helped move Finn onto a ship and piloted it as the entire Resistance changed bases, once again. Though it felt different this time. The New Republic had been destroyed, the galaxy was in some sort of disjointed free fall. Though, he felt almost nostalgic when he found out the new base was in the Outer Rim. It was a big risk moving closer to First Order territory, but they couldn’t afford to lose the remnants of the Empire when they suffering from the destruction of the Starkiller base even if the Republic was arguably more damaged. The Resistance was the last front between the rest of the galaxy and totalitarian dictatorship.

Less than a week after they shifted bases, Finn was released from the infirmary. The relief Poe felt was...almost inexplicable. But it really wasn’t. He knew exactly why he felt the way he did, his heart fluttering when Finn lifted his shirt to show Poe the long, bright pink scar running up the length of his back.

“Shit.” Poe swore, unable to contain it. It was a  _ nasty _ wound.

Finn chuckled. “I’ve had worse.” He was clearly lying but Poe didn’t call him on it, just watched as Finn pulled his shirt back down. “Have we heard anything from Rey?”

“We got a transmission a few days ago. I’m not sure how far away she is, but she found Skywalker and they’re headed here.” Poe shrugged at that, but it made him feel weird and distant and he wasn’t really sure why. He ignored it and let it be replaced by the warmth he felt at the brilliant smile from Finn at the news.

“That’s great!” Finn said, clearly looking like he wanted to pull Poe into a hug.

“Come on.” Poe gestured for Finn to hug him and Finn didn’t hesitate after the invitation.

…

It had been less than a week since the Resistance got news that Rey had found Skywalker and was head to the Resistance base, but somehow it all felt like an eternity. An eternity of them deploying diplomats and soldiers to lead on planets that were suffering from the loss of the New Republic’s guidance and Finn and Poe staying on, devising courses of action based on information relayed back to them. Reconnaissance told them that their new base was safe, uncorrupted by First Order influence. But things were apt to be much more precarious in the wake of the havoc the Order had managed to create with three blasts from the Starkiller.

Poe was mostly kind of relieved to have time to settle in and see Rey again, now that Finn was better. The Falcon landed and Rey burst through the hatch, lighting up like a flare when she saw Finn, Poe and Finn. She ran towards Finn and tackled him into a hug and when they separated she hugged Poe just as tightly. He laughed in surprise but hugged her back. She was so young, just a girl really. He patted her back and pulled away.

Of course, a crowd had gathered—though it wasn’t much of a crowd since it was mostly just a skeleton crew of strategists and higher ups in the Resistance—on the Tarmac to see the legendary Luke Skywalker, but it quickly became a private moment when the General moved forward from the throng and embraced her brother like a lifeline. Everyone seemed to have other things to do, suddenly, ambling away and towards the mess hall since it was about lunch time.

“You hungry?” Poe asked Rey, jerking his head in the direction the rest of the crowd was headed.

“Starved!” She admitted, her face still lit up as they moved toward what was the new mess hall. The crew around them were trying to be discrete—but failing—by cutting their eyes around and craning their necks like they were looking at something other than Rey. Rey didn’t seem to notice, or mind, that all those eyes were on her. He had a suspicion that Rey had gotten very used to being invisible—no one would intentionally lay eyes on her.

“Are you excited?” He asked, a little bewildered at her response to mess hall food.

“Incredibly!”

“Why?” He thought he had an idea. He shouldn’t have made her say it but she didn’t seem to mind, her face still bright and open.

“Real food!” She exclaimed and Finn smiled at that. “We’ve been eating the rations on the  _ Falcon _ . Same stuff I ate on Jakku.” 

“You're gonna love it.” Finn told her, sharing her excitement, clearly remembering his first experience with flavors.

Poe only had a sinking sensation of guilt. He had grown up with a loving family that fed him well. Rey ate what she could scavenge. It was a wonder her body had held up at all. Though, clearly her slight frame and stature spoke of malnutrition at a young age.

“Come on, kiddo.” He put a hand on her back and ushered her and Finn on.

Rey’s anticipation and excitement was palpable. She grabbed some soup and some bread—Poe insisted liquids were her best bet, despite how eager she was to try every odd and colorful thing she laid her eyes on—and she was practically vibrating. The mess hall wasn’t very large and pretty much everyone that was in it was all sitting around Finn, Rey, and Poe’s table, still pretending like they weren’t watching the three of them.

The first bite, a piece of the bread with some butter spread over it under Poe’s advisement, looked rapturous and she groaned in absolute, rapturous pleasure at the taste. But she didn’t even swallow it before her face froze, eyes flying open in horror. She sounding like she was gagging, choking on the small bit of food she had in her mouth, and before either Finn or Poe could do anything for her she was pushing away from the table. At this point, everyone else in the mess hall was tense and looked like they were ready to spring into action, stop her from choking, take her to the med bay. But Rey didn’t get very far. She doubled over herself and spat out the contents of her mouth. She looked like she was going to stand up and come back over to the table but a violent tremor took her over and she was dry-heaving, her eyes watering and looking like she was going to cry. Both Finn and Poe rushed to her, Poe bringing her her water.

“What's wrong?” Finn prompted, crouching into her space and making soothing circles on her back, unsure what else to do; Stormtroopers had training in a lot of things, but crisis management was not one of them. Rey was still coughing but she was able to reach up and take the water from Poe.

“It was... _ so good _ .” She croaked out, after downing the entire canister of water and handing it back to Poe. He took that as the clear sign it was to refill it for her. “Everything I've ever eaten, up until now…” She trailed off, her meaning implied.

Poe had seen the squalor most people on Jakku lived it, likely in part due to the battle that had taken place in the planet’s sky. He knew that nothing grew and that there was little to no water--and the water that was there was standing, full of bacteria and saliva from other people’s pachyderms. The food was all imported and synthetic, disgusting and contaminated by the time it reached her lips. Not worth the parts Rey had scrapped for it. It was  _ repugnant _ that anyone had to live like that, much less chose to live like that.

Rey’s breathing was evening out and the two men ran their hands along her back, encouraging her to drink, not to think about it. But it was hard not to, even for Poe. Finally, they got her to sit down, but she couldn't eat anymore, looking like she would retch at any second if she tried to bring any food near her mouth again.

…

In the Order, they were groomed regularly—hair kept short and nails all trimmed. It had seemed like a courtesy at the time but now Finn recognized it for what it was: subjugation. Unfortunately, that didn't stop him from feeling uncomfortable and biting his nails when they got too long, chewing until they bled. Or constantly commenting that he needed a haircut, to no one in particular, on a regular basis when he felt it poofing up.

Finally, he cornered Poe and asked him. “Will you cut my hair for me?”

Poe looked startled at first. “I didn't realize how serious it was. I would have offered much sooner, if I had known.”

“I didn’t tell you.” Finn admitted.

The Resistance was spread thin and the refreshers were empty, at most times. Poe wrapped a towel around Finn’s shoulders and had him sit down on one. With his lithe, steady, and adept fingers, Poe brought a razor to Finn’s edges and trimmed length from the top. It wasn’t perfect but Finn was glad to have his hair at a manageable length for the time being. It was when he ran his hand over the waves on top of his head that he saw Poe notice his bloody fingertips. Poe looked like he wanted to say something but he didn’t.

“I’m sorry it’s not very good. I don’t really know what to do with hair like yours. I usually just take some scissors and…” he mimed cutting his own hair but Finn felt just a small twinge in his stomach. He was vaguely hurt but he knew it wasn’t Poe’s fault. Even in the Order, he was aware that he was in a minority, despite all the time spent in suits and looking uniform.

“It takes practice.” Finn said, instead of what he was thinking or how he was feeling.

“You gonna let me practice on you?” Poe smirked and he was so close to Finn now and there was an incredible warmth between them.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.” Finn looked away, feeling suddenly shy.

Poe took one of his hands, thumb brushing over the torn skin around Finn’s nails—a tacit acknowledgement of whatever pain it was that Finn had, telling Finn he could talk to Poe about it if and when he felt he needed to.

“Good.” Poe said, his voice soft and low. And it wasn’t really a surprise when Poe leaned in to kiss Finn, though Finn really didn’t know what to do. His mouth had never been used for much other than putting nutrition paste in to keep him alive. At that moment, it was being used for something good—a little gross, but good. It was just nice to have Poe there, solid and steady, leaning into him with his hands on the back of Finn’s neck. Yet, somehow, he couldn’t enjoy it completely. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, he felt guilty. Like he was betraying Rey, despite them not being together either. But he kissed Poe back anyway because it meant so much to him that Poe wanted him, that Poe saw value in him. Rey would understand that, of course. Wouldn’t she?


	2. Chapter 2

Sometimes, when she watched the way Luke Skywalker moved, or listened to the way he said things—when he said anything at all—it was so easy to tell that he was a farm boy. Gentle, mild-mannered, a soft-spoken. Mostly, Rey thinks, he seems like someone who has been through a lot, maybe too much. But so had General Organa. Was that really a reason to go into hiding? Leia was Force-sensitive too. Sometimes, she thought she couldn’t forgive him for running away but sometimes she saw his pain, so clearly etched in the deep lines of his face and she couldn’t stay angry. Especially when he was teaching her so much.

But sometimes the training made her feel isolated, like she was on Jakku. And sometimes she would have nightmares about it—Unkar Plutt spitting rejections in her face, refusing to buy any of her scraps. Sometimes they would turn violent with her having to stab others to steal their food. She would wake up breathing heavily and have a hard time getting back to sleep, drenched in sweat and shivering. It was worse when she woke up from the dreams of the First Order storming her small village and rounding up everyone—even disgusting Unkar—and shooting them all down the line, like frightened banthas. Those were the nights she went to the  _ Falcon _ . Chewie didn’t say anything to her, just growled a little and let her on board. She would sit at the helm and look over, imagining Han Solo sitting there and looking impressed with her. The small amount of time she had known him had felt more like a family than anything she could remember, before all that time spent on Jakku. And she was really starting to see Chewie as family too, a mostly silent—if a little sarcastic—hairy uncle. On those nights, she was lucky if she got a few hours of sleep in the early morning before she dragged herself to the mess hall and worked on trying to eat real food, forcing down memories of the tainted food on Jakku.

Sometimes, if she was lucky, she managed to eat about half of her meals. But the memories of Jakku weren’t fading like she’d hoped they would. And she found that she was so thirsty  _ all the time _ . Just thinking about the desert sands whipping at her face would be enough to lead her to gulp down a big canister of water. Finn and Poe had started to recognize the look in her eye when she was far away, on Jakku with her hands burning from pulling at hot metal and her heart pounding as she scaled up twenty feet of a sheer face. One of them would silently get up and refill her cannister for her, gently placing it in her hand. And gods, did she love them both for it. Even if she didn’t know Poe all that well. But Finn knew him, and obviously loved him too, so she loved Poe because of it.

And Poe had his own silent torments—Rey could tell—about Kylo Ren and the torture he endured, but he didn’t say anything about them either. Occasionally, she could feel small glimpses of what he was feeling through the Force. He didn’t know it, really, but sometimes he was projecting. Though, she couldn’t be sure if he was doing it intentionally or not, and if he was if he was sending it to her specifically. She figured it was probably accidental. No one had ever told Poe he was Force-sensitive, but he was. Finn, too, though he had had a lot less time and exposure. Sometimes, she found herself dreaming about the two men joining her in her training, so she wasn’t so alone. She had forged a new family and even the separation on the base was sometimes too much. But Skywalker didn’t get it. He was solitary by nature, introverted and quiet. He thrived off of it and he would have them sit and meditate for hours. Of course, he knew when her mind would not be quiet, when she was thinking about Finn or Poe or Jakku. Or Finn and Poe together, which never failed to twist something in her gut. But before she could really examine it, Skywalker would be calling out to her.

“Focus your mind! Concentrate on the Force. It’s all around you, Rey.”

And she would sigh heavily and readjust her posture to try and get a little more comfortable for their continued meditation. She could see why Kylo Ren—she felt disgusted at even the image of his face in her mind’s eye—had failed as a Jedi; he was too impulsive and impatient. So far, all Jedi training seemed to be was discipline and patience. Maybe, inherently, Kylo Ren was strong but his power was unbridled and he was allowed to be reckless. It made her wonder why he thought he could teach her. Of course, that recklessness was going to be his downfall. But that was how she focused her mind: she envisioned herself defeating him. Not killing him, but bringing him to his knees, causing him to surrender. She wanted to exact revenge on him, wanted to stab him through just like he’d done to his own father, but that made her no better than him. And she didn’t want anyone else to kill him either, for fear of allowing them to stoop to his level too. Perhaps prison was best, though she wasn’t sure. She really had no basis of understanding how politics worked. Skywalker had actually told her he would explain some of those things to her, take her to Coruscant to see the old Jedi temple, there. 

“It’s part of Jedi training.” He told her. And she found the prospect rather exciting. Even in her small corner of the galaxy, she knew of Coruscant—a city so large it spread over an entire planet and stacked so high they had traffic and buildings in the clouds. She couldn’t even fathom that much life in the whole galaxy, yet there it was on one planet. Maybe Finn and Poe could go with her, to talk to the Galatic Senate. They were certainly witnesses to the actions of the First Order. Especially Finn. For the time being, she was stuck in the Outer Rim with Skywalker gently—but forcefully—reminding her to control her breathing in the silence of the forest.

…

“Maybe we could go to Coruscant some time.” Rey said one day at lunch. She had eaten almost three fourths of her meal. The boys were impressed but silent.

Poe almost choked on his food. “What? Why?” He put his fork down and looked at her seriously.

“The Jedi temple is there. And we can talk to the Senate, too.”

Finn choked on his food then and quickly gulped down a bunch of water to clear his throat. “Does she not...know?” He directed at Poe.

“Know what?” The fear was obvious in her eyes as she flicked them between both men.

“The Senate hasn’t been on Coruscant for over thirty years.” Poe started. “And, uh, the...Senate. They’re all...gone. One of those planets the Starkiller destroyed...it was Hosnian Prime. That’s where the Senate was being hosted. It’s all  _ gone _ . That’s why there’s hardly anyone here. We’re doing cleanup and helping any planets that are dealing with the fallout of this. Honestly, it’s kind of hard to tell what’s going to happen.”

Rey was silent for a while. “Oh.” she passed through her lips. “Why aren’t we doing anything, then?” Suddenly, she was standing and her food was forgotten.

“Rey.” Poe said, voice calm and soothing but not condescending, and a hand around her wrist, “The Resistance is doing everything in its power. We have to have a skeleton crew here so our fighters have something to come back to, so we have some sort of central organization, so we can protect the General. We  _ are _ doing something.”

Poe tugged her towards him, then, into his chest and she fell into his embrace. It was warm and silent.

“Your duty is to train as a Jedi, bring balance to the Force. The reconnaissance, the networking, the cleanup, the policing, that’s everyone else’s job. We’re trained for this.”

“And you?” She slowly slid away from him, sitting back down at their table.

“I’m under special orders from the General to watch you two, bring you along when the time comes.” He paused, contemplating both Finn and Rey. “And the time will come. Quickly.” He assured them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, uh...this was going to just be you know T...but then I wrote some porn so anyway. Enjoy this stormpilot porn. I promise it will eventually get to jedistormpilot so hang in there!!

Finn and Poe hadn't talked about them kissing in the refresher since it happened. It was surreal, like it hadn't happened at all. And before it did, Finn could have gone his  _ whole _ life without wanting to be kissed. But now that he knew what it was like, he couldn't help but feel a deep longing for that pressure of someone else’s lips against his. He wanted to feel it again, and he wanted to feel Poe’s body against his, solid and warm. It had been so quick the first time and Poe had shut it down as quickly as he had started it, claiming he shouldn't have done it—he was forcing himself onto Finn. And he hadn't given Finn any time to protest or defend himself. Finn had  _ liked _ it. Tremendously. Though, he wasn't  _ unaware _ of Poe’s reasonable trepidation; Finn didn't quite yet have the emotional capacity to make romantic decisions for himself, had nothing to base it off of.

“Can we talk?” Finn finally decided to corner Poe in their quarters. Bases were all different, allowing for different sleeping arrangements—D’Qar had been more of a military-style with a large open room filled by bunk beds, while this new base was smaller and offered more privacy, though it was also a constant reminder of how spread-thin they really were. It was tacitly understood that the space was to be shared in rotations, based on who was on base or out working.

At the question, Poe looked shifty, eyes sliding to the door like he was contemplating what his chances of getting passed Finn were if he tried to make a run for it. But then he sighed, shoulders slumping slightly. “Sure, buddy.” He conceded.

Finn had mostly expected Poe to make some excuse and run off or maybe just kiss him again. He didn't expect to be standing there with Poe’s earnest, dark eyes beseeching him to continue.

“I...er...we  _ kissed? _ ” Finn said, finishing somewhat lamely. He looked away and scratched the back of his head, feeling how his hair was just a bit uneven and remembering Poe sitting him down and cutting it for him.

“Yes…” Poe elongated the word to several syllables and then trailed off, giving Finn room to continue.

“I...want to do it again. It would be on my terms this time.” Finn gained enough courage then to fix Poe with his gaze, imploring him to agree.

“There are so many things...that you just don't... _ know _ .” Poe was keeping eye contact but it seemed forced and a little uncomfortable.

“I want to learn them. We can just... _ try _ things. Would that be okay?”

Poe was silent for a few seconds but then he nodded. “Yeah. Okay. We can try things. And you are  _ absolutely _ to tell me if and when you do not enjoy something.” He pointed a deliberate finger at Finn, clearly trying not to smirk. “Everyone is different. We’re just gonna be…” He gestured loosely in front of him, “Stabbing out into the unknown.”

“Deal.” Finn said, feeling like he was sealing a contract. He even stuck his hand out to shake on it. Poe laughed like a tiny bell at that but he took it and shook more in a brisk, friendly way than anything amorous. Finn was determined to change that. He used that hand to pull Poe into him, his other hand coming up Poe’s back before pushing into a tentative kiss.

This kiss was different. Poe had permission then, and it seemed like he was not going to let the opportunity pass him by. This kiss was guided and preludial—it was going somewhere. And it did. Poe moved them toward Poe’s own bed, all the while pushing Poe's own jacket back from Finn’s shoulders and letting it drop to the ground. They stepped over it and then the back of Finn’s knees bumped the edge of the mattress. Finn almost allowed himself to fall back on to it, let Poe have his way with him but Poe had him gripped tightly, fingers almost bruising on Finn’s hips just above the waist of his trousers. They separated and Poe let his legs bracket Finn’s, his grip loosening and sliding down so that one hand was palming at Finn’s inexplicably growing erection and the other was unfastening Finn’s pants.

“Finn,” Poe breathed into Finn’s neck and Finn shivered, “I want you to take control of your own pleasure. I'll show you how.” It was all a hoarse whisper and Finn loved it. He nodded his consent and Poe deftly freed Finn’s cock from his pants.  It was shocking—bizarre and alien—to have anyone touch him in an area he had only recently learned was used for things other than relieving himself. It certainly wasn't bad. He gasped and Poe allowed them to sink down onto the edge of the bed, Poe sliding to the side so they were sitting side by side, shoulder to shoulder.

Silently, Poe reached over and grabbed Finn’s right hand. “You  _ are _ right-handed, aren't you?” 

Finn was confused by the question. Poe laughed and clarified. “Do you use your right hand to fire a blaster?” Finn only nodded in response. “Good.” Poe continued with Finn’s right hand, gently wrapping it around his cock and guiding him in a few gentle strokes.

Finn couldn't help crying out, then, at the sudden sensation.

“That's only the beginning, buddy.” Poe smirked. “You can get a good rhythm going.” He told Finn, showing him a steady pace. After a few more strokes, Finn took over lead, though Poe didn't move his hand away. As the sensations got more intense, Finn stopped trying to control his ragged breathing and found himself speeding up. Speeding towards what, he wasn't sure but Poe seemed excited about it, whispering “come on, buddy” and “come for me.” He thought he was already there so he wasn't sure what Poe meant but he didn't really care in the moment, just feeding off Poe’s enthusiasm.

Then, suddenly, Finn felt so much warmer, a tightness concentrating in his lower abdomen and balls. It was like nothing he’d ever experienced, it was so focalized, in just one area that was feeling so tight and so warm. Poe wasn't whispering to him anymore. Instead, he was sucking and licking the side of Finn’s neck, right over his pulse and then moving lower, yanking Finn’s shirt collar out of the way to get at Finn’s sweat-damp jugular notch. He wasn't sure how or why but what Poe was doing to him made the difference. The sensation in his groin expanded and burst, like a bubble and he almost thought it was over before he realized his hand was warm and heavy under a foreign dampness. Poe’s hand was still closed around his and when he looked down at them, he saw both hands had streaks of a thick, milky substance.

“Did, ah, I do that?” Finn whispered, body still feeling trembly and weak from what had just happened. 

“Mhm.” Poe laughed into Finn’s neck, though Finn was aware that it wasn't really at Finn’s expense. “The miracle of  _ life _ .” He commented, peeling his hand off Finn’s and—to Finn’s shock—bringing his hand up to lick it clean.

“Does it... _ taste good? _ ” Finn was floored, his voice cracking a little in disbelief.

“Honestly, not really. But swallowing it is a sign of... _ affection _ .” Poe explained, looking thoughtful before amending his statement. “Though, always let someone  _ chose _ . Don't force them to swallow it.”

“Oh.” Finn looked at his own hand and considered tasting it but he didn't get a chance—thankfully—because Poe brought that up to his mouth and licked it clean as well. “Okay.” Finn breathed out. “Thank you.” He said, meaning it earnestly.

Poe laughed again, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “You're sincerely welcome, Finn.”

“Can, uh, I do you?” 

Poe flopped back on the bed, his legs still draped down the side. “Uhh...I think maybe you need a little more practice. I can take care of myself really quick. I’m already halfway there anyway.” He admitted, laughing a little at himself as he freed his cock from his pants. “You could kiss me while I’m doing it, though.” Poe encouraged Finn, reaching up towards him to pull him down on the bed next to him.

Finn was so excited then that he was easily pulled down, his hand moving to Poe’s chest as he pressed in for a kiss. He was getting to touch someone else—though not just anyone: Poe. He felt Poe’s movements as his arm worked up and down pretty quickly, his breathing coming faster and faster. Finn took it as a sign to keep going, moving to kiss along Poe’s jaw and down his neck and loving the way Poe’s breathing hitched when Finn’s hands started to move farther down his stomach. “Fuck.” He whispered out and his breathing and hand movement got faster. It was just as exhilarating for Finn to see Poe like this as it had been to have Poe help him get off.

Finally, Finn heard Poe go silent, his breathing stopping altogether and Finn knew that meant Poe was done now, that same white substance now on his hand and a little on his stomach where his shirt had hiked up.

“What’s this called?”

“Oh god.” Poe groaned, laughing to himself and allowing his clean hand to cover his eyes. “Finn...I think you need to talk to some medical professionals. I don’t know if I can answer all your cute questions.”

“You think I’m cute?” Finn picked up on that part the most, loving the feeling he got when Poe said that.

“Of course I think you’re cute.” Poe said, leaning over to place a light kiss on Finn’s lips.

“We can talk more later.” Poe sighed, rolling back over and grabbing a scrap of cloth that was sitting on the ground to clean himself up.

“Sounds fair.” Finn agreed, especially now that he had a little material to work with.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here, have some finn x rey fluff!

Finn had been taking it easy—taking it easy as in not leaving the base—since he got out of the infirmary. He was receiving all kinds of training—in technology, weapons, tactical strategies, and Poe was even teaching him a bit about the mechanics of flying (before taking him up in a plane). And General Organa always had him come to intelligence meetings where the Rebels were debriefed on any new reconnaissance information and cleanup going on across the galaxy. Sometimes it was to see if Finn could help interpret information about the First Order and sometimes it was just to ask his opinions, see if he had any tactical ideas based on what he was learning, bringing some fresh eyes to the table. Naturally, some people didn't  _ trust _ him, thought he was so clearly a spy or double agent, but Leia trusted him implicitly from the good readings she got from him through the Force and the character references from both her best pilot and the newest Jedi in decades who was training with her brother.

Poe was gone most days, flying quick trips to neighboring planets, and usually back in time for dinner and slipping into bed with Finn. The man was a fighter pilot, not a spy, but Finn saw his desire to be useful and was unable to find much to do on the base. Poe was smart and he damn sure knew military tactics and flight patterns—more than once, Finn had seen him reading philosophical books about strategy and he found himself incredibly impressed and it occurred to Finn that, beyond recognizing symbols and letters in certain combinations around the base or ships, he could not read. Though, that was a different issue entirely and he wasn’t sure he was ready to bring that up to anyone. He wasn’t even sure if Rey could read either.

But Poe didn't know how to deal with fallout, with society in chaos, or diplomacy. Poe was not the kind of person to “make nice,” he wasn't sweet—unless he was in the bedroom—and he wasn't bringing anyone to their side that wasn't already standing with them. But Poe was going on those types of missions anyway. He was the best pilot in the Resistance so he wasn't going to be convinced to sit idly by when so many others were working hard and doing jobs they weren't necessarily trained for. And sometimes, Poe would do some of the same military training with Finn, practicing with weapons other than what were used by the First Order. And Finn had to admit, Poe really wasn't all that  _ good _ at hand to hand or saber fighting; he was fast, like a pilot ought to be, but he moved unnecessarily and had no idea how to block. It gave Finn just a small sense of pride, that he had this one thing he was better at than Poe.

All of Poe’s absence, though, gave Finn a lot of time to spend with Rey, even being brought in on the Jedi training since he was Force sensitive anyway. They ate lunch together and Rey worked on teaching Finn a few other languages so he could understand BB-8 and Chewie. It was honestly hilarious and ridiculous to hear Rey animatedly trying to gurgle sounds to imitate Wookie speech though the binary that most droids communicated in was significantly less bizarre to hear her reproduce with her vocal cords.

Despite being busy, being on the base all the time still gave them time to squeeze in exploration and some down time. Every now and then they ate their lunch outside or went on short hikes through the surrounding forest. It never failed to endear Rey to him when he saw how much she was still awed and humbled by the vast greenery.

One day, they found a huge lake that they had to walk down into, huge rocks nagging out around and on the sides of the lake. It was gorgeous and isolated and Rey's eyes had lit up with her almost childlike sense of wonder. He was wholly and completely in love with her. 

“We have to go swimming!” She yelled, already streaming down into the valley, ducking around trees and roots. Finn struggled to keep up with her. It was a warm, sunny day and he could almost believe the galaxy wasn't at war and that everywhere else was as peaceful and tranquil and wonderfully alone as this valley was. The water was so clear, rippling only a little when a gentle breeze picked up. It looked refreshing and Rey was taking off her clothes—some loose training outfit she was given from the commissary—and preparing to dive in when Finn finally reached the rock outcrop she was settled on. He didn't hesitate, divesting himself hastily. His home planet had been verdant and sunny too but he had lived there so little time that he was mostly used to the dark and snowy planet the Starkiller had been built into. Anything but those wastelands, like Jakku in its infinite sand or the snow tundra, was a paradise to Finn. And obviously to Rey too. It struck him that Poe likely took places like these for granted, that Yavin 4 was probably just as lush as this or D’Qar. It was unfair but Finn didn't begrudge him.

“Come on!” Rey urged him, tugging at his arm. He hadn't taken his pants off yet but Rey was fully naked, unashamed by her own form, and so was Finn. He was hardly aware that he  _ had _ a form—at least until recently—much less that he should be ashamed of it. He stripped all the way down and jumped in after her, no finesse, slapping down into the chilly water. They weren't very deep and both of them were able to stand where they were with their chests above the water. Yet, Rey was obviously enjoying herself despite the fact that there was no way she could  _ possibly  _ know how to swim. And it struck Finn that he didn't really know how to swim either, he had just known that Rey wanted to jump in and that meant he wanted to jump in too. Best to stay in the shallows, he surmised.

They spent a few hours splashing around and playfully sparring, Rey occasionally cheating by throwing water at him with the Force. He knew that if Skywalker had been there, he’d probably say it was an inappropriate use of the Force but Rey didn’t seem to be concerned. It was the most fun Finn had had in his whole life, the most uninhibited and carefree he’d ever been. And it was exhilarating. He only felt slightly guilty about it, that he was so happy and so uninhibited while others could be homeless or dead. Or working to help those people. He found himself wishing Poe was there too, that Poe could enjoy this beautiful carefree after, but he was so grateful and happy to be in Rey’s radiant presence alone. Was that selfish?

“I'm glad you're here.” He found himself saying, not really thinking about it before it came out.

“I’m glad I'm here too!” Rey said, smile splitting her bright face. She didn’t seem to think about it but her hands clapped down on Finn’s shoulder, wet and chilly from the water. It was comforting and intimate nonetheless. He felt a tightness in his chest, similar to how he felt when he thought about possibly being captured by the First Order, having to face Kylo Ren again, a slow and painful death at the hands of a sadist. He was nervous and Rey was  _ beautiful _ with the sunlight beaming down onto her freckled cheeks.

He couldn’t be sure but he thought he saw her eyes flicker down to his lips, just briefly. But maybe it was a trick of the light? He had seen Poe do it, knew what it meant, but did it mean the same thing coming from Rey? She was just as lost and alone as him when he had met her. Was it possible she knew anything about love or sexuality?

Was she leaning in closer?

He brought his own hands up and found them cupping her face. She closed her eyes and he knew then that she wanted him to kiss her. And who was he to deny her that? Especially since he very much wanted to kiss her too. With only a moment’s more hesitation, he leaned down and pressed a chaste, closed-lip kiss to her lips. That seemed to be just fine to Rey. She pulled back a little and looked at him then, warm contentedness in her eyes. She pressed in one more time, still with closed lips, and that was it. It wasn’t exactly awkward but it signaled the end of their excursion. It was time to hop out of the water and clamber back into their clothes with the cloth sticking uncomfortably to their wet bodies as they hiked back up through dirt and peat, back to the base. And they were quiet, though not because they were  _ embarrassed _ . It was companionable but it was clear they both wanted to get back and take a hot shower before climbing into some clean and dry clothes.

After Finn had cleaned up, he started walking back towards the training rooms only to be stopped by General Organa as he passed her office.

“Finn,” she called, sounding more like a stern mother than just a commander, “Could I talk to you for a moment?”

Though it was phrased as a request, Finn was scared of what could happen if he said no. He still had severe residual dread of  _ command _ , in general, those who were above him. He knew he wouldn’t be corporally punished by the Resistance, or punished at all really, but he did have a healthy fear of being on Leia’s bad side, just because that didn’t seem like a position anyone wanted to be in.

“Of course, Ma’am.” He said, choking back the small amount of bile that came up whenever he thought of the punishment he could have received, or still could receive, from the First Order.

Leia Organa stood by the door, not a tall woman yet somehow looming anyway.

“You tell that  _ pilot of yours _ that he’s to take some damn time off the next time you see him.”

Finn was startled into silence for a few heartbeats. “Yes, Ma’am.” He finally managed to bark out.

“Good. That’s all.”

Finn nodded tersely and wandered back to his training, wondering when Poe would be back.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do apologize. This chapter is probably a lot rougher (though, they're all rough) than previous chapters. I just wanted to get this one out.

“I think Rey’s been avoiding me.” Finn blurted out after Poe had just gotten back and they were sitting down to lunch in the mess hall, Poe looking worn out and scruffy but happy to have some real food in his stomach.

“Uh…” he trailed off, some bread still in his mouth. “Why?”

“She doesn’t come to lunch anymore and I haven’t really be invited to do any Jedi training lately. Like, maybe she said something to Luke? Or he just got a read off her. It’s probably that last one.”

Poe didn’t want to interrupt Finn while he was sort of panicking. It was a little out of his depth. Poe wasn’t super used to dealing with the emotions of other people; most of his relationships were one-night-stands or week-long sexcapades, so to speak. He’d had friends...but mostly work friendships or people he drank with. Finn was the first person he ever even considered being emotionally intimate with but he had no idea where to even start. Finn was so pure and Poe didn’t want to abandon him, wanted to just bask in Finn’s glow.

“Any reason why she might want to avoid you?”

“Um…” Finn seemed shifty then and looked away and Poe felt like someone was twisting a knife in his stomach. He knew how much Finn cared about Rey and, honestly, he cared a lot about Rey too, even with the small amount of time he had spent with her. She was as bright and pure as Finn, but in a completely different way. It was magnetic but he never got to see her, not really. That’s why he knew he had to go find her and do whatever kind of mediating was necessary between her and Finn.

“We’ll talk about it later, okay, Finn? I just want to finish eating and get some sleep.”

“That sounds...good.” Finn tucked into his food then, clearly not eager to talk about it anymore.

...

The next day, Poe woke up after noon. He groaned and rolled over to find his bed empty. Finn had let him sleep in. And he would be mad but orders came straight down from Leia so he just got up and dressed, shaving his face in the refresher. He’d missed breakfast and lunch, though his stomach growled with hunger. Somehow, it made him think of Rey. If she was out in the woods with Luke, he could kiss his chances of actually finding her. Unless R2D2 was with them. Then he could get BB-8 to tell him where they were.

“BB,” he said, down to his droid, “You know where R2 is?”

BB-8 beeped, telling Poe that he knew where R2 was but he wasn’t with Rey, if that’s what you’re asking.

Poe laughed at his droid. “She’s probably working on the _Falcon_ then. Come on, buddy.” The droid beeped happily and rolled along behind Poe, towards the hangar.

As they came into the hangar, Poe realized that the wookie was probably on the ship as well. Maybe even guarding Rey. He had been known to do that, even in the short amount of time they’d been at the new base.

“B, you think you can distract a wookie?” He leaned down and whispered to his droid. BB nodded and chirped an affirmative. “Thanks, buddy.” Poe said as he stood back up and straightened his uniform nervously. He couldn’t exactly explain why he was nervous. _It’s just Rey. Rey’s not intimidating. She’s Rey_ . He told himself as he and his droid marched towards the closed door of the _Falcon_. With just a second of hesitation, Poe banged his left palm against the cool metal and then stepped back, waiting for the door to open. As he expected, the wookie was the one to stick his head out and grumble out at Poe. BB took that as the cue to try and distract Chewie. With its headpiece titled forward, it charged full speed into one of Chewie’s leg. Chewie let out an agitated cry and made after the droid as it ducked back down into the hangar and chirped taunts at the wookie. Poe was kind of surprised at the strategy—and its apparent effectiveness—but it got him access to the inside of the ship, regardless.

He heard distant metallic clanging and some swearing. “Rey?” he called out to her and the swearing got a little louder and the clanging a little faster. He didn’t really have to call again. He followed a faint trail of smoke into the center of the ship and looked down into a crawlspace in the floor. Rey was sat there, grease smeared on her face, and her eyes closed in exasperation.

“What do you want, Dameron?” Her tone was harsh and he was hurt by it. More than he wanted to be. “I thought that damn wookie was supposed to be standing guard.” She said mostly to herself.

“Heh.” Poe scratched the back of his head, “I kind of had some help. BB distracted him.”

“Oh.” She sighed and stood up. Poe crouched and offered his hand to help hoist her out. “I’ve got it.” She said in response, moving to the side and hefting herself out in one smooth motion. And then she was just standing there in front of him in a Rebel Alliance uniform and her chest heaving just a little. He had never been more attracted to her than in that moment. He wanted to say something corny like “You’re really hot when you’re mad” but he knew that wouldn’t sit well with Rey. Instead, he just told her he came to check up on her.

“You devised a plan with your robot just to get in here and ask me how I’m doing?” She asked, cocking a skeptical eyebrow before turning around and heading to sit down. Rey’s footsteps were heavy, like even after all this time off Jakku it was hard to adjust how much force she used with her legs like she was still accommodating for sand. It meant her legs were so powerful and her strides were huge, propelling her across the space in only a few steps. All this time Poe had known her, he just thought she was small and somewhat weak due to her malnutrition but it couldn’t be true. She was too good in combat—aces with her staff and getting pretty spectacular with the practice lightsaber—and she could climb up a tree in seconds. He’d been underestimating her this whole time and he felt guilty about it. What else did he not know about her?

He sat down opposite her and tried to think of something, anything, to say. But before he could say anything, BB-8 came whirring in, frantically beeping with Chewie in hot pursuit. BB was shouting “help me, help me!” and Chewie was just growling. Until he saw Rey and Poe sitting down. He immediately stopped while BB ducked behind Poe’s legs and peeked out from the side.

Chewie apologized to Rey for getting distracted but she waved him off, her face going soft. “It’s fine, Chewie.” She said and her voice melted Poe’s heart just a little bit more. “You can be off duty now.”

Chewie stood there for a second, looking skeptical, and then growled at BB, who cowered back, before turning and disappearing in the recesses of the ship’s belly.

“It’s okay, bud.” Poe said, patting BB and BB made a low hum that indicated contentment.

“You’re so kind to your bot.”

“He’s basically my kid.” Poe laughed, feeling a little silly, but Rey smiled at that. It seems like Chewie’s presence did the trick. Rey had a little flyaway hair hanging into her face and she was a little flushed and sweaty and Poe had to work _really_ hard to push down any inappropriate thoughts about her—and, he couldn’t lie, Finn with her. But she was hurt and he had to push passed his own desires to reach her. His hand moved, before he could really think about it, and tucked the strand back behind her ear. He tried to tell himself he didn’t hear her breath hitch at the contact, but he was pretty sure he did. His hand was hovering and he wanted so badly to place it at the back of her head, or maybe on the side of her neck, but he just let it rest gently on her shoulder.

“I really did just want to check on you.” He said, his voice soft and BB-8 hummed emphatically in accordance. “Finn thought you were avoiding him but I thought it might be something else.”

Rey’s face went even redder and Poe pulled his hand away, recognizing that she needed space in that moment. “I...uh, I kind of was avoiding him.” She was silent for a few seconds, fiddling with her loose uniform and avoiding eye contact. “I think that...I’m having a hard time being close with other people.”

Poe laughed and Rey gave him a nasty glare. He held his hands up to show he meant no harm. “I’m laughing at myself, Rey. I think I have the same problem.” He admitted and leaned back, showing her that he was relaxed and the situation was okay.

“I want to be more present but other people’s emotions... _scare_ me. I never had to deal with them before and now...I don’t even know why it bugs me but I’m scared.”

“I get it.” Poe nodded. “Maybe some people aren’t worth it, you know? But you have to make decisions. Decide who _is_ important enough. Because if they’re worth their salt, then it’s a journey together, you know? You’re both in the same boat. And it would be in everyone’s best interests not to capsize, you know?”

Rey snorted at that. “Nice metaphors, Dameron. Because I’ve spent so much time near water.”

He rolled his eyes. “You get my point though. Take the metaphors and replace ‘boat’ with ‘ship’ if it makes you feel better.”

“It’s okay.” Rey smirked. “I get it. But it’s still...difficult. My gut is telling me to flee. Just get the hell out of here. I mean...not the base. Just like...away from Finn. Even though he’s _wonderful_ and I care about him a lot.”

“Finn is pretty wonderful.” Poe tried really hard not to let his face go dreamy but it probably did anyway. “I think he might be the kind of person who’s worth plowing through your gut instinct for.”

Rey just nodded, like any words she might have were stuck in her throat. Poe waited, just in case she was going to say something but it looked like she wasn’t.

“Anything else bothering you that I can give shoddy advice on?”

“Ha! Not really. I think that’s the big one, right now.”

“Hmm. Well, do you mind if I ask you a question? And you totally don’t have to answer. Especially if you get asked this a lot.”

“Er, sure. Go ahead.” She bit her lip and nodded. Poe tried not to be distracted by her mouth in that instant.

“How exactly does the Force work?”

“Oh. You know, people don’t really ask me that. Most people don’t really ask me anything. They don’t really talk to me.”

“Well, shit. We gotta change that. You ever been drunk, Rey?” Poe liked her name on his tongue. Her eyes snapped up to his when he said it.

“No? What is that?”

“Oh boy. This’ll be fun. You’re gonna come drink with the pilots tonight.”

“Okay…” Rey clearly was nervous.

“I promise. It’ll be fun.” Poe plastered on his winningest smile, hoping it would make her feel better. “So, the Force?”

“Oh, right. Um, it's kinda like a connecting of energies? Like, you kind of reach out and touch things that are giving off their own...vibes? Like, say I wanted to open a door. I’d reach out to the energy of the door and tell it what to do. Obviously, this gets faster the more you practice. For now, it takes _a lot_ of effort on my part.”

“So, you can kind of recognize people by their energy?” Poe wasn’t sure how he felt about that.

“Potentially? I think it depends on the person, right now. Like, if you’re not giving off much energy, I probably won’t recognize it. But that's what was so _terrifying_ about Ren. His energy is untamed and huge and just... _rushing_ at you, like a sandstorm. Dark. Closing in.” Rey shuddered, clearly remembering the feeling. Poe couldn’t help leaning forward, then, pulling Rey into him.

“We’re gonna get him, Rey. I promise.” He whispered fiercely, smoothing back some of the hair falling in her face now. BB-8 beeped loudly its own affirmative. Rey nodded against Poe and sniffed, not him but like she was...crying. Before Poe could say anything else, she pulled away and sniffed again, looking away from him.

“I need to redo my hair.” She admitted, pulling the loops down from the back of her head and letting it all come down and hang in her face.

“It looks nice just like that.” Poe said, feeling it reverberate in his chest more than actually hearing it. He was feeling so self-conscious that he felt like he was inside a shell that was making all the decisions for him. His hand moved, almost like slow motion, and touched her hair, smoothing it down one more time, but this time he let his hand stay there on the side of her neck. She looked up at him and he saw her swallow hard, flicking her eyes between his eyes and his mouth; she had to know he wanted to kiss her. And he was leaning forward. Suddenly, she flew from her seat and was across the room, standing in the same threshold Chewie had disappeared through.

“I’m with Finn.” She blurted out.

It took Poe a minute to realize what she’d said, what she’d meant. _Wait…_

“You’re with...I think we need to have a little chat with our former Stormtrooper.” He stood up and moved towards Rey, BB right on his heels.

“What?” Rey cocked her head.

“I think we can get some things worked out.” Poe said, nearly laughing and heading towards the exit. “Tell me exactly what happened while we walk.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all, this chapter was like pulling teeth. And it is short and awkward and I had no clue what I was doing but anyway, I wanted to end it there because the next chapter is gonna be drinkin' and highly E rated content. :D

“You went  _ swimming?  _ You two bozos don't know  _ how _ to swim!” Poe looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel and BB-8 had rolled off when his face started turning a little red. It kind of scared Rey in a way she didn't expect. Poe was intense but he never seemed...malicious? And he really wasn't now, either. It was out of concern but it was still intense. He had only been half listening during most of the story, and she hadn't even gotten to the part where her and Finn had kissed, but the minute she admitted that they had jumped in the water—Poe hadn't even been bothered by the fact that they had both disrobed in front of each other, clearly sensing that that was a non-issue—he had gone red in the face, like he was trying to discipline a child. By that point, they had found Finn on a data pad in the communications center. 

“It’s okay, Poe.” Finn tried to placate him with a gentle hand on his chest, trying to push him towards the door, away from prying eyes and ears. The crew on the base was still mostly a skeleton crew and news spread quickly. “We stayed in the shallow part.”

“But…” Poe started grumbling and it sounded like another language—something Finn and Rey didn't know—“ _ Currents! _ You don't even  _ know  _ about currents!” He started in that other language again, like a pot of water slowly starting to come to a rolling boil as Finn and Rey pulled him out into the hall.

In the hallway, Poe let himself fall into a quiet with both Finn and Rey’s hands on him, warm and tempting to Rey. 

“I'm sorry.” Poe whispered on a sigh, closing his eyes. Finn glanced at Rey and they both dropped their hands from the pilot. “Is that the end of the story, Rey? You risked your lives in the dumbest way and now you're  _ together? _ ”

“We’re  _ what? _ ” Finn turned shocked eyes on Rey who felt like she was spectating as she let herself be run down by a an oncoming fighter jet.

“You...kissed  _ me? _ ” Rey managed to stutter out, her voice shaking.

“I ki—you kissed me!” Finn shouted, desperate.

“You're misremembering things!” Rey spat at him, feeling defensive of herself. At this point, it didn’t matter that Poe was watching or even what they were arguing about. She had to look out for herself and she wanted to tack a name to the end of her statement. She had almost called him ‘stormtrooper’ but recognized that was too far, even if they were having an argument. But he had no  _ surname _ —she had no surname—nothing less personal than ‘Finn.’ “Do you not want to have kissed me?” This was said more softly, as she came to the realization that Finn must be ashamed of her. He couldn’t even tell Poe, his best friend.

“It’s…” Finn’s eyes flicked to Poe, who was making a tight and concentrated face. “complicated?” He looked like he wanted to shake Rey, to grab her and shake sense into her. As if that would transmit his message properly, take the sting away of the fact that he was ashamed that he’d kissed Rey.

“How’s it complicated, Finn?” Poe’s face was still tight but Rey thought she saw a glimmer of humor in his eyes, maybe pulling at the corners of his lips, and she was ashamed because he was laughing at her. She must have misjudged Poe; he wasn’t the good guy she had thought he was. Instead of letting Finn continue, she wouldn’t take her eyes off Poe to see if he would crack, if he would break into laughter at her humiliation.

“ _ Poe _ …” Finn’s voice broke, sounding a little desperate but Rey still didn't move her eyes away from Poe.

“You totally kissed her, didn't you, bud?” And there it was, that smirk, cocky and so attractive and charming, despite what it meant for Rey. He thought this was funny, a game or something.

“I…” Finn sounded deflated, like he was too tired to even argue anymore. “I can't explain it. I just want...to kiss you  _ both? _ ”

At that, Rey snapped her eyes back to Finn. His skin was smooth and  _ dark  _ but she recognized what someone looked like when they were blushing, felt her own facial muscles doing the same things and the redness tint her cheeks. It was one thing to be  _ kissed _ , to be  _ kissing _ , it was something entirely different to hear someone say they wanted to  _ kiss you _ , to somehow be negotiating such a wonderful and private thing. 

“And we both want to kiss you, too.” Poe said, laughter in his voice now, but his words, in his low and deep voice, made her stomach churn for a different reason. Poe was in this too. Maybe it was a competition. Maybe she would have to fight for Finn. But it didn't feel right. Something in her was saying she didn't want to fight Poe because she _wanted_ Poe too, likely the same way Finn did. “And maybe we both want to kiss each other too.” Rey's eyes went to Poe’s open face then. That was not what she was expecting him to say and she felt that sticky, prickly panicking rising in her again. In the _Falcon_ , she hadn't _said_ anything about wanting to kiss Poe or not so how could he _know?_ _Maybe I projected it to him through the Force?_

Poe just winked at her and her face burned; she had to start examining her shoes, her uniform, wiping her sweaty hands on the tan material. How could she respond to that? Should she respond to that? She was all sweaty and red, like she had just come back from scavenging in a hot ship. Up until then, she’d never had to think about what she would look like. Her main concern was getting food, getting into the shade. But now she knew there were eyes on her: Finn and Poe’s. It was expectant and tense, like their anticipation was a shroud around her and her senses were screaming at her to  _ RUN _ . Instead, she swallowed down the nervous bile, feeling like her throat was blocked physically. How was she supposed to talk? Her hands were so sweaty, prickly. Finally, she pushed out some sound. But it was more like wind than words. She tried again.

“Y-you want to kiss me?” Her voice was so small. She was surprised either of them could hear her. The hallway was empty, though, but for them. Poe crowded into her then, his hand moving up to her chin to lift it up so she was looking at him. Her eyes were watering and she was trying so hard to blink back those awkward tears.

“Yes, I do.” Poe admitted. He’d gone soft, his voice, his features. “I think maybe you do too?” He was looking straight at her but she couldn't maintain eye contact; it was too much. But she pulled away and Poe let out a puff of air. It could have been in disappointment but Rey was biting her lip and nodding before he could recent his statement.

“Yes.” Her voice was back to mostly wind but both men heard it, she knew they did.

“Can I kiss you now?” Poe asked, his smile was back but it was sweet this time. Rey nodded again and that was enough for Poe to push forward. It wasn't a long kiss like when she kissed Finn in the lake. It was more of a promise, like they could belong to each other now. “How about Finn?” Poe asked when he pulled away. Rey nodded again and Poe moved back, replaced quickly with Finn’s dark features looking more nervous than she’d ever seen him—and she’d seen him pick a light saber fight with Ren when he had no business sparring like that. Finn kissed her quickly, just like Poe had. Then, when Finn pulled away, Poe grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him in for a quick kiss.

“I think we all need to get back to work. I gotta round up my squad but we'll meet up for dinner and we’ll have some down time later on.” He winked at Rey then and she had to check out her shoes again to keep herself in check.

Finn nodded tersely and moved back into the Comm Room. That left just Rey and Poe.

“C’mon, kiddo.” He said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. It felt so comfortable, like shelter. Like a home. “I’ll walk you back to the  _ Falcon _ . That's gonna be a damn fine ship if you have anything to say about it.”

“Trust me, Dameron. I have plenty to say about it.” Rey snorted, feeling a little more like she was on familiar ground.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter isn't NSFW but the next chapter will be. It won't have any plot stuff so you can feel free to skip it if you want.

Snap Wexley was a large man. Tall  _ and  _ wide. Finn was a little intimidated by him, to be honest, even when he was nothing but boisterous and friendly, laughing from his belly. The man had to have half a foot on Finn, at least, and was always looking down at him with a bright smile and clapping his hand on Finn’s shoulder to impart one wisdom or another.

“You’re in for a treat.” Snap assured him and Finn just wanted to move away. It wasn’t that Snap wasn’t  _ likeable _ —he was—it was just that he made Finn feel so  _ small  _ in a way the others on the base did not; even those of different species that were naturally much larger in stature were still so gentle with Finn once they started realizing that Leia trusted him implicitly and had allowed him access to all of the Resistance’s information.

Snap just...seemed like the kind of person to make fun of everyone. And Finn had known men like that in the First Order. The kind that gave everyone else nicknames but refused to give Finn one. It reminded him of all that, seeing him interact with the rest of Poe’s squadron like an obnoxious older brother, made him feel insignificant. But then Poe swooped in and dragged Finn away, to meet some of the others in the squad, human and other species alike.

Jessika Pava, on the other hand, got Finn fired up. She was small in size but she made up for it with how loud and feisty she was. Punching all the boys in the shoulder and slinging her arm around the shoulders of the girls. She’d been the one who had had a stash of liquor in her trunk that she was “saving for a rainy day.” Finn didn’t even know what that meant but the alcohol made him nervous, just from the way people talked about it. Rey seemed just as nervous as him. He huddled towards her, wanting to keep her as his rock when Poe was socializing with his team. There were only three of them left since Ello Asty had been killed during the attack on the Starkiller. Lieutenant Bastian had deigned not to join the festivities with them that night since it was mostly for “the young folks,” as he put it. And it really was. There wasn’t anyone over 35—or an equivalent age—though most of the nonhumans really weren’t there for the alcohol. Most of them couldn’t even get drunk even if they wanted to.

At some point during the festivities, Finn found himself deep in philosophical conversation with a Gungan who seemed to have a lot of questions for him. He had wanted to keep Rey by his side but Rey was busy talking to Jessika, laughing joyously and looking so happy every time Finn glanced over. Poe was floating around, talking to everyone. Clearly, he felt that he was in charge of the shin dig and would keep refilling people’s cups when he noticed they were empty.

After a while, Finn started to feel like he was in a sensory deprivation bubble; everything was so far away, muted, and all he wanted to do was touch and be touched. That was something he hadn’t ever had too much of an issue with, even with Poe. But it seemed to be amplified and he started to notice that the Gungan, Antolia, was laughing at him when Finn tried to say things, having to repeat himself and stop to think what he was saying more than he really wanted to. And he couldn’t really hear what anyone else was saying around him. 

When Antolia made excuses and left the Recreation Room, Finn went back to Rey, standing close to her and holding her hand. She was absolutely amenable to it, leaning heavily into him as well. She was still talking to Jess but Finn wasn’t paying attention to anything Jess was saying. All he could tell was that Rey was having the same kind of trouble speaking he was. He put his face into her hair, just breathing her warmth in and her hand came up to cup the back of his head. It was nice and her hair, worn down instead of in her usual style, was soft and warm where he had been combing his fingers through the ends. This was the first time he’d been so close to her since he had kissed her in the hallway in front of Poe and he had spent most of the day fretting that it would be awkward like after he kissed her in the lake. But it was so comfortable and he wanted to kiss her again. It so weird to not really be in control of that desire like he usually was.

“Do you have to go to the bathroom, Finn?” Rey asked, suddenly, interrupting Jess mid-sentence. “I’m sorry, Jess. I have to go really bad.”

“Me too. I’ll go with you.” Jess admitted.

Rey dislodged herself from Finn and the two women made their way out of the room. Finn looked around and found it was mostly empty now.  _ When did that happen? _ He thought to himself, spying Poe finally sitting still in a quiet but heated discussion with Snap.  Cautiously and carefully, Finn made his way over to the seat next to Poe, trying his best not to seem as intoxicated as he felt. Poe didn’t even look up when Finn fell into the seat, just stuck his hand out to pat Finn’s thigh.  _ Oh no _ . Finn wrenched his leg from Poe’s grasp and that’s when Poe looked up at him, startled.

“Are you okay?” Poe whispered, leaning into Finn’s space.

“I’m not sure.” Finn whispered, closing his eyes and trying not to lean into Poe’s smell, into his face  _ right there _ . He had no idea what he was doing; his mouth felt numb and his tongue was heavy, desperate to use it for something. To lick at Poe’s neck or wrestle it into Poe’s mouth. “I miss Rey.”

“She hasn’t been gone ten minutes, bud. Have you been drinking water?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Come on, bud. Let’s get you to the refreshers. You probably ought to go to the bathroom and get some water.”

“That’s where Rey is!”

“Even more reason to go there.” Poe said, snickering a little as he hoisted Finn out of the chair. “I’ll be back, Snap.”

“Take your time, boss.” Snap’s expression was humored and smug but Finn couldn’t exactly say why. He thought he might have seen Poe make a rude gesture to Snap on their way out of the room.

…

As they neared the refreshers, Poe could hear murmuring voices echoing in the big room. Everyone used the refreshers—humans and nonhumans alike—so of course, at this time of night, it was likely to be Rey and Jess. He really hoped Jess was taking care of Rey. With how wobbly Finn was against him as they walked down the hall, Rey probably wasn’t much better off. He felt like such an asshole that he hadn’t stuck around and monitored them like he should have. It just...hadn’t even occurred to him that it was something he ought to be doing. Especially since he was going around talking to people and drinking himself.

Finn’s hand was sliding lower from his hip, trying his best to squeeze Poe’s ass.

“Hey, woah there, buddy. We need to get you some water. How are you feeling? Sick at all?”

“Not sick. Just...dizzy?” Finn responded, not very deterred from his mission of ass-grabbing.

“Okay. Definitely just get some water then.” Poe pushed open the door to the refresher and there was Rey and Jess, in front of one of sinks. In a pretty compromising position. Jessika was sitting on the counter, her legs open, and Rey was standing in between them with Jess’s hands on Rey’s hips.

“Hey guys.” Poe said. He hoped he sounded friendly but he couldn’t help the stab of jealousy in his gut when he saw Rey like that.

At the sound of Poe’s voice, Rey turned, breaking Jess’s grip on her.

“Poe! Finn!” Her eyes were shining. She launched herself at the boys, her arms immediately going around Finn’s neck.

“Easy, girly.” Poe’s voice went softer, relief washing over him at the display. He suspected strongly that Jess kind of coaxed Rey into what they were doing earlier and Rey had no clue that it had any connotation outside of a friendly one. “Finn’s a little wobbly. He needs some water. Want to help him out?”

“Of course.” Rey grabbed Finn’s hand and brought him over to a water fountain and held it on for him while he held himself up on the rim with both hands, drinking slowly.

“Jess.” Poe’s voice was mostly a whisper. “Rey’s...with me.” It wasn’t a warning or anything. He just wanted her to know so no one would get embarrassed.

Jess fixed him with hard eyes. “I thought you were with the stormtrooper.”

“I am, too.”

“Damn, Dameron. Two of them?” She was laughing as she hopped off the counter and gave Poe a good punch in the arm.

“All three of us, actually, Pava.” He smirked, mostly just glad that there wasn’t any bad blood between the two of them. It wouldn’t be good for the Resistance at all if he couldn’t command his squadron because one of them was mad at him for stealing their girl. Not that that’s what happened, or that Jessika was the kind of person to really think something like that. But Poe worried anyway.

“I can take a hint. You three have fun.” She winked and saluted before she left the room. Poe saluted back and went over to Finn and Rey.

So, Rey was fine but Finn clearly needed water and some time to sober up.

“You guys wanna come back to our quarters and watch some holovids, give Finn some time to sober up?” Poe couldn’t help smirking a little and Rey smirked back at him, nodding emphatically.

“Sound good, buddy?” Poe checked with Finn. Finn just gave a thumbs up and gulped a little more water before standing up and slumping back into Poe.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, this was like pulling teeth but anyway, there it is. Now I can get to more plot-y stuff? Anyway, enjoy some NSFW of the main trio! I love them so much.

All three of them had crowded onto Poe’s bed with Finn in the middle; that was fine by Rey. Every now and then, as they watched, Poe lean over and make sure Finn was drinking water out of his canteen. And about half way through the vid, Poe paused it to ask Finn how he was feeling.

“Good,” Finn admitted, “but I do have to go to the bathroom.”

“Of course.” Poe nodded. “Can you handle getting to the refreshers on your own?”

“Yes.” Finn said, sounding a little bratty. Rey couldn't help but laugh as Finn stuck his tongue out at Poe and stalked out of the room. It was the first time Poe and Rey were in the same room alone since they’d figured out that they wanted to kiss each other. There was a gap between them and the space seemed to fill with the tense silence between them. They weren't looking at each other, pointedly if Rey was being honest. What could try possibly say to each other that wouldn't be awkward? Or less awkward than what was already happening.

There was space between them but they were leaning in. Rey put her hand on Poe’s thigh. It felt...taboo, like she wasn’t supposed to be this close to him. But she was allowed. Finn had given them both permission and Poe’s leg was warm. She liked the feeling of his muscle beneath the cloth and she wanted to kiss him. She had kissed him earlier. And she had kissed Finn in the lake but that had really been the extent of any kissing she’d done in her whole life. But somewhere in her gut she knew there was more...something more intense people did with their mouths. She just wasn’t sure what. Something told her Finn and Poe had certainly done something of that nature but she hadn’t had time to ask either of them yet. It was so bizarre to think that it was only this morning that things had changed so drastically between all three of them.

“Rey…” Poe’s voice sounded wrecked, low and cracking. Rey wasn’t sure what it meant, not really, but something stabbed through her stomach at the sound. She wanted to look away from him but she couldn’t really look away from him, his eyes lidded but focused on her. It made her skin warm, her face on fire but she wasn’t going to back down. She could handle the situation. He tilted his head, almost a question but she couldn’t really understand it, but then he started to lay back on the bed, head landing on the pillow. Rey thought she understood then: he was asking her to follow him, maybe. And so she did.

He put his hand on her neck, over her hair, and she almost felt like shivering. It was warm, seering. She let her hand drift up to Poe’s hip, onto his civilian pants, khaki just like most of the uniforms. There was a hitch in his breath at the touch, Rey could feel it under her hand and it was electric. She wanted to move her hand around, elicit that response repeatedly, intensely. Cautiously, she swept her hand down, following the top of his pants over his stomach and he gasped at that, the muscles there trembling. It was exhilarating to make someone else feel that way. And it had to be good. It sounded like it was pleasant, though she was skeptical about whether or not she wanted to feel it too.

“Can I kiss you?” Poe whispered and he sounded like he was holding back, like asking was restraint. Rey was inexplicably pleased by that. She kept herself from laughing by biting her lip and nodding her consent.

This kiss was different. Different than the one she and Poe had shared earlier in the day, different than the one she and Finn had shared in the lake. It was far from chaste and she knew it. Poe’s mouth was open so so was hers, and he was moving his lips closed and open repeatedly. It was not intuitive to Rey and it was nothing like the press of lips she had learned to associate with the word “kiss.” There were kind of weird sounds but she was focusing on the right ways to open and close her mouth with Poe’s that she didn’t even really mind the sounds too much.

She was just starting to kind of like it, get the hang of it, when the door to the room slid open.

…

Finn was decidedly not drunk anymore. He relieved himself and had a little more water, splashing a little on his face to tame the heat he was feeling on his cheeks. He did still kind of feel weird but he wasn’t really having trouble walking by any means. And that was a relief. He wasn’t entirely sure he enjoyed being drunk and wasn’t sold on why everyone else seemed to like it so much. Maybe he needed to try it again. But he certainly didn’t care for how often he felt he had to go to the bathroom while intoxicated. It really just felt like he was distressing his body and not taking care of it like he should. He told himself he would work out even more tomorrow, to make up for it. That’s what he would have done in the First Order. Though, it wasn’t a comfort to think about his old squadron, he’d found that the regular exercise and training was a solace he never realized—a constant in his ever-changing world, since he defected.

He walked slowly back to his quarters, not because he wasn’t able to walk faster but because he wanted to just kind of...soak in the realities of where he was. He was on a planet so much different to the Starkiller base. He had freedom, choice. And often he didn’t know what to do with that freedom, sometimes even with small things like what to eat, which kind of training he wanted to do for the day. He felt powerful in his decision to train a little more the following day, like he was finally starting to fit in to his surroundings and seizing his ability to chose.

At first, he didn’t realize that these revelations had a smirk spread across his face but he felt it change entirely when he came back into the room where Poe and Rey were on the bed, kissing in a position Finn found very familiar with Poe. He supposed he was supposed be jealous or angry. But he wanted them both and the sight wasn’t startling to him; it was arousing. It was just that they were in new territory now; he had no clue how to insinuate himself into the mix, at least in any way that would feel comfortable. At his entrance, Rey startled, sitting bolt upright. Despite this, her eyes were unfocused and he recognized arousal when he saw it. He felt himself smirking again and her Poe laughing, watching as Poe’s arm pulled back and his chest stretched awkwardly, beckoning Finn to him.

That was his in. There was just enough room on the bed for him to slide in behind Poe, press his growing erection to Poe’s ass, feeling a small sense of pride at the low and familiar moan that came from Poe’s lips. Rey clearly wasn’t used to the sound and her bewildered gaze shifted to Finn who was smirking up at her.

“C’mere.” Finn heard his voice sounding distorted already, clearly affected by what had been going on. But Rey didn’t hesitate to lean over Poe, her chest pressing against Poe’s arm as she started kissing Finn with an open mouth. Finn was silently thankful that Poe had already gotten to this, helped Rey figure it out before Finn had to try; he still didn’t think he was the best he could be and wasn’t sure he could exactly teach someone to do it. However, she seemed startled when he pushed his tongue against hers but took it in stride nonetheless. And that was why he loved her; when it benefited her, she had no problem rising to the occasion. She even moaned a little at the sensation and it was just a little bit rapturous to Finn but he let her go because he knew they were squishing Poe and he didn’t want to leave Poe out, by any means.

When Finn and Rey pulled back, Poe took the opportunity to roll over and face Finn. He pulled them tightly together, chest to chest and erections bumping. Finn couldn’t help the moan that came out of him at the feeling, just before Poe pulled him into the same type of erotic kiss. And he wasn’t surprised when he felt Rey’s arm reach over and grip his bicep. He liked the reminder of her presence, though he hadn’t for one second forgotten she was there. Poe pulled away before they could start rutting against each other like they were both tempted to do, like that had plenty of times before.

“Why don’t we get Rey in the middle?” Poe suggested then, sitting up and using the opportunity to take his shirt off. Finn didn’t miss the opportunity to latch his mouth on Poe’s shoulder before pulling back and taking his own shirt off. Rey, not one to be left out, followed suit and took her shirt off. She had nothing underneath, though Finn already knew this from their swim at the lake; he also knew some women preferred clothing underneath that supported their breast. Rey’s were small and that was mostly unnecessary. But that didn’t mean he didn’t appreciate them; he did, most ardently. Poe seemed to as well when he told her to lie back and he put his mouth over one. Rey immediately shoved her hands into Poe’s hair, barely holding back sounds of pleasure. Finn knew that was a good sign and followed Poe’s suit. He’d done the same thing to Poe before, but it was different now with the small mound of flesh beneath his tongue, though she was just as sensitive.

Finn knew what he would do next if he were doing it to Poe—lower his hand down to Poe’s erection and stroke it while he licked and sucked at Poe’s nipple. He figured it couldn’t be much different with Rey, but when he slid his hand down he found Poe’s hand already there, doing something mysterious and magical in Rey’s pants. And it was clearly magical if the way Rey was panting in Finn’s ear was anything to go by. He sat up then, wanting to demand Poe tell him what he was doing.

“I-I can’t see what you’re doing.” He managed to get out, instead.

“Maybe we all ought to take our pants off.” Poe said. He tried to sound cocky but everyone could tell he wasn’t unaffected. “You go first, Finn.”

Finn rolled his eyes but got up off the bed, away from Rey, whose eyes were blown at the pleasure she was feeling, and quickly pulled his pants off. He was about to climb back on the bed when Poe stopped him.

“Those too.” he instructed and Finn, for some reason, felt embarrassed. He was just glad neither of them could tell if he was blushing or not. But he took off his underwear as well and sat on the edge of the bed.

Rey was less ceremonious, sitting up to yank off her pants and underwear and kicking them off the side of the bed. Poe rolled over and unbuttoned his own pants, lifting his hips up to push them down his body and kick them off just like Rey had. Finn didn’t know why but he found it so charming and was eager to climb back into the pile.

Needless to say, Finn—and Rey, too, really—learned a few wonderful and new things about the female body. And they all slept very well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yes, I did write some kylux ( [Your whole perspective gets hazy](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6082497) ) which will definitely be relevant to this story (eventually) so here is where I would read that before coming back to chapter 9 for this story.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've had this written for a while...I didn't even realize I hadn't posted it!! Anyway, PLOT

Rey woke first, early, having gotten some of the best sleep of her life. She didn’t have nightmares. Or dreams at all. It was just blissful darkness. The two boys were snoring as she pulled her clothes back on. She slipped out and into the still-dim and quiet halls back to her own quarters to put on a fresh set of clothes before heading to get some breakfast.

Mostly, she had gotten used to eating quality food. Usually, her portions were enough but she had really taken to coffee. Often times she found herself wanting a second and third cup. For a while, she was allowed to drink them and it was a comfort to her, the warm liquid traveling through her in the morning before training sessions. But a few days ago, they had posted signs about limiting one cup per person per day and that had been devastating. So, that morning she was determined to drink slowly, savor it. Maybe even wait for the boys to show up. Though, it was still well before 0700 and they probably wouldn’t try to get up for another couple of hours.

She decided to just go ahead and eat. And maybe find Luke. It was probably best she was honest with him about what had happened yesterday. They hadn’t talked about it too much but she knew the general idea was that Jedi didn’t have...emotional ties, she supposed. But she wasn’t exactly a Jedi. Luke...wasn’t exactly...anymore. He had only briefly told her that it wasn’t going to be how they trained, maybe not even beneficial to strictly stick to the code. Rey was fine with that. Though she still didn’t like the breathing and meditating. Finn usually...tactfully missed those days. Of course, he wasn’t getting as connected to his abilities as Rey was because he felt like he had a different role in the Resistance, though he was still trying to figure that out exactly.

…

Luke enjoyed sleep, though his sleeping arrangements, despite all of Leia’s protests, were still very austere. He had a room but it was likely a storage closet than a space meant to house a living creature. It had no windows and was just wide enough for Luke’s bed roll. Rey made her way to his room, figuring he was still asleep at this point.

She knocked on his door and it took him some time to wake up. The door didn’t have a locking mechanism but it was polite not to just barge in. He called to her that he needed just a minute to dress. Just then, BB-8 found her, bumping quietly into her leg. She laughed and looked down to the droid.

“Hi, BB.” She was genuinely happy to see BB-8. Perhaps Poe and Finn were awake now? She pushed back a smile at the thought of her two boys.

When Luke opened the door, his face was soft but tired.

“How can I help you, my child?” He always called her that. Rey thought he got some sort of satisfaction from it, like it was was of the only privileges of his age. BB-8 beeped loudly up at Luke and he laughed. “Hello to you, BB-8. Hope you’re having a good morning.”

BB-8 nodded and Luke laughed again.

“I need to talk to you.” Rey said, pushing down her sudden fear. Luke was not someone she had feared at all since her first interaction with him; he had proven himself to be genial man who was distance because of his sadness and not because of his nature. Rey could feel Luke’s mind brush against hers. He didn’t mean to pry but it was something that just happened with him as he’d gotten a little older and hadn’t been disciplining himself as much. His training with Rey was a way to train himself, too.

“It’s about the two men in your life.” Luke smiled, a knowing smile. Rey got the feeling he knew all too well about matters of the heart. She had managed to catch glimpses of his feelings towards Han, more than just familial love like he had for Leia. Rey didn’t want to pry too much at that. Instead, she just nodded.

“I can’t really be a Jedi.” she blurted, her fears bubbling out of her against her will. It wasn’t like she could really hide anything from Luke, even if she wanted to; he had a way of finding things out. He laughed softly and let his left hand come up to her shoulder.

“Rey. I was never training you to be a Jedi.” He dropped his hand from her shoulder then.

“Oh.” Somehow, that felt a bit disappointing to her. BB-8 saw it and bumped her leg, letting out a soft string of whirring and clicking to let her know it was okay.

“I mean to say, the Jedi had some good things in their teaching but I don’t necessarily agree with some of it either. Especially not... _ now _ .” He meant after Ben, after  _ everything _ , but he didn’t have to say it. “I wouldn’t even call myself a Jedi, really anymore. There were too many people I loved so much.”

It didn’t escape Rey his use of the past tense and it clenched her heart. She couldn’t stop replaying the images of Kylo Ren stabbing his father and of Han Solo falling into the chasm of the Starkiller base. But more than it hurt her, it made her angry and there was an intense flare of boiling hatred in the pit of her stomach as she thought of the face of Han’s killer, at one point so close to her own.

“Now is not the time for anger, Rey.” Luke’s face was soft. “Why don’t we go have some breakfast? I could go for some caf.” He laughed a little and rubbed his hands together.

“I’ve eaten, already.”

“Well, you can sit with me and tell me all about it.”

…

After lunch, General Organa called a meeting with Luke, Rey, Finn, and Poe. She explained that she was going to need them to do a mission for her and she recognized that it was useless trying to split the three of them up, anyway. Luke and Rey looked down at their feet at that point; Finn didn't exactly know what it meant, but he was embarrassed nonetheless. Poe just laughed in his throat and Finn looked like he was blushing while looked down at his feet.

“What can we do for you, General?” Poe got down to business, reminding everyone of the soldier he was.

“Honestly,” Leia’s face was tight, unhappy—for many reasons—“we need  _ money _ . We were being supported by some Senators, as you know, but that is...no longer an option. I still have a few places we can turn to. But with most of our benefactors gone…” She trailed off.

Everyone had noticed rations getting smaller, food being less fresh, regulations on shower time. It was all things Finn was accustomed to under the First Order but he had almost gotten comfortable in the newly found freedom of the Rebel Alliance. He should have known it was too good to last.

“This would function as a diplomacy mission,” Leia eyed Poe warily, “which I recognize some of us are not quite as skilled with.”

“It was one time.” Poe muttered. “And he insulted your mother.”

“That means we have to handle things delicately.” She eyed Poe one more time, “I have a few places for you to go but we can't really afford to send you with a Resistance ship, for obvious reasons so you’ll take the  _ Falcon _ .” Finn wasn't sure but he thought he saw the general’s eyes sparkle a little at the name. She had to have fond memories of it. “This will probably endear you to your first host, at any rate. There, you’ll acquire another civilian ship to avoid detection and go from there. Am I clear?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Finn, Rey, and Poe recited at the same time. Finn and Rey had learned a good amount of military protocol and that was a big one—addressing senior officers, which to Finn and Rey was pretty much everyone.

“Good. Luke is going with you. He’ll act as liaison.”

…

Rey was the first to pilot the Falcon on their way to Bespin. Luke kept her company in the co-pilot seat. The rest of the gang loafed around in the back of the ship, snoozing or eating.

“I think you’re really going to find this planet interesting.”

“Why’s that?” Rey was beaming. No one had given her any information about where they were going, just that they were to be diplomatic and polite to their host, Calrissian. Rey wasn’t the best at being polite, or even eating in a...refined way. Most people were too polite to say anything but Finn had asked her about it once. She just shrugged and stuffed more food in her face, after she’d gotten better at eating this good food. She was afraid this long trip would force them to eat more nutrition packets and that was a bit of a fear for her.

“I don’t want to ruin the surprise.” Rey thought she saw a mischievous glint in Luke’s eyes and it quickly reminded her that Luke was young once too, full of wonder. Maybe he still was full of wonder, just tired. Rey didn’t know much about the wars but from what she had gleaned, it seemed exhausting; all the strategy and planning, and trying to keep at least two steps ahead of your enemy, diplomacy and begging people to see your side instead of just being as forceful as possible. It made  _ sense _ , it just sounded exhausting. And she was about to have to live that life too. It was for a good cause, she had to tell herself.

“I can’t wait.” She smiled back, finally engaging the autopilot once they were into hyperdrive.


	10. Chapter 10

Luke had told Poe that Rey was going to love Cloud City and Poe agreed. She was sleeping when the city came into view from the cockpit and he had Luke take over piloting while he went to wake her up, BB-8 on his heels. Chewie had disappeared into the recesses of the ship and hadn’t really surfaced the entire trip.

Rey and Finn were curled up together on a bunk that likely wasn’t meant for two people. It was so cute and endearing he didn’t really want to wake them up but he knew both of them would want to see it before they got too close. BB-8 had followed him into the room and was by the bedside, peering over the edge at the two sleeping. Poe squatted down next to his droid, which was beeping steadily in its own attempt to wake them up, and started speaking to both Finn and Rey. He couldn't really believe it but he was allowed to touch them—both of them—and so he reached out both hands and started petting their hair, whispering that they should wake up. Finally, they both blinked awake and smiled, happy to see Poe there with them.

“Are we there yet?” Rey sprang up, like a child in a sweets shop.

“Pretty close. I thought you might like to see the view before we’re too close, though.” He grinned and Rey grinned back, tipping forward enough to place a quick kiss on Poe’s lips. Finn was less awake but he wasn’t one to pass up kisses. He swooped in and kissed Poe and then kissed Rey, too. It felt so right to be there but the moment was interrupted by BB-8 beeping more frantically at all three of them.

“He’s right. We should hurry. We’re getting pretty close. Come see!”

Finn and Rey hopped off the bed and rushed towards the cockpit. They crowded in, peering out of the front.

“Woah.” Finn said, his eyes big. Rey’s eyes were just as big but she was speechless at that point.

“What is that?” Rey finally asked, staring intently.

“That’s Cloud City.” Luke said, a fond smile on his face.

“That’s where we’re going?” Finn turned to look at Poe.

“Yup!” He was happy to tell both Finn and Rey, both who were beaming back at him now.

“And we’re cleared for landing.” Luke chimed in.

“Perfect. Bring ‘er in.” Poe said, feeling so bold as to let his hand come down in a friendly manner onto Luke’s shoulder, like he was one of his squadron, just another pilot. But he wasn’t. He was Luke Fucking Skywalker. Though all he did was smile up at Poe in acknowledgement. What a sweet, gentle man.

After that, Rey and Finn couldn’t really contain their nervous energy and chatted quietly to each other, hovering behind Poe and Luke as they brought the _Falcon_ in for landing.

They were waved in, into the hangar and were greeted by a group of men, at the front was a dark skinned man with a mustache. He rushed forward when he saw Luke, pulling him into a tight hug, Chewie hovering very close behind them. It was the kind of hug that said so much without either of them saying a word, not even a distressed rumble from the wookie. They were just standing there and everyone was silent, trying not to watch but not wanting to look away anyway. Of course, Poe didn’t know the depth of their relationship but Lando was a contact of Leia’s and they both knew Han, were good friends of Han’s, and his loss was difficult for all of them. But it seemed like there was even more, still unsaid. They would be talking later, obviously. Poe knew it wasn’t his business and he wasn’t close enough with Luke to ask. Maybe Rey could tell him later.

When the two older men pulled apart, they were still standing close and talking lowly but Poe could hear. “Tendra?” Luke asked. The other man shook his head and asked almost the same question in return.

“Mara Jade?”

Luke shook his head and both of them had sadness pinching at their eyes. It was hard to see and it made Poe want to squeeze Finn and Rey close to him. He did just that, looping an arm around each of their waists, and they leaned into him warming him against the whipping wind of Cloud City’s altitude.

Finally, the two older men were done with their private moment and the darker man moved forward, around Luke, and introduced himself. “Lando Calrissian.” He said, shaking hands down the line, starting with Rey.

“Calrissian?” Poe said, the name sparking in Poe’s memory. Lando smiled brightly at that.

“You look to be about Chance’s age, I’d bet. You went to Academy together?” Lando focused his gaze on Poe.

“We were good friends in the Academy, yeah.” Poe conceded.

“You’ll be happy to find that Chance has taken over my position as leader of this city.”

Poe raised his eyebrows. That was certainly not what he would have expected from Chance, not with how rebellious he was in school.

“He hasn’t changed as much as you might think. But he did get _elected_ to the position.”

“He was always very popular.”

“He’ll be joining us for dinner. In the meantime, we’ll show you to your rooms. Five?” Lando asked, counting the members of the party. BB-8 made some rude beeps but everyone ignored it. Though Finn, Rey, and Poe hadn’t really discussed the sleeping arrangements, it had kind of become a tacit rule that if they weren’t working the three of them shared.

“Three.” All three of them chimed at the same time. Lando was taken aback, his eyes traveling over the face of all three of them. Suddenly, realization hit him.

“Of course.” He nodded.

…

They were transported a way away from the hangar and entered the cavernous lobby of a high rising building, glinting with glass and gold, and stopped at the desk. It had the flags and symbols of many planets and systems lining the walls; it must be an embassy. Poe felt a stab in his gut when he saw the emblem for the Hosnian system. He was glad Finn and Rey didn't really recognize it. A non-human was behind the desk in a crisp uniform.

“Mr. Calrissian,” she greeted in perfect basic, “Five rooms?”

“Three.” Lando corrected.

She nodded and retrieved three keys from behind the desk, handing them to Lando who distributed them among Luke, Chewie, and Poe. All three rooms were on the same floor and Lando dropped Finn, Rey, Poe, and BB-8 off first, looking like he was eager to talk to Luke privately. Poe understood. Before he left them, he informed them that dinner was at 20:00, giving them a little under two hours to do with whatever they liked. Poe asked BB to go hang out with Chewie until dinner. The droid nodded and rolled along behind the wookie.

The room the three of them were given was huge and white, with a sunken sitting room and a large bedroom in the back. Sunlight was streaming in from wide windows and Poe felt a simultaneous peacefulness and discomfort, overly warm and awkward with Finn and Rey hovering at the threshold instead of entering like they belonged there. At first, sharing a room had seemed like a logical step but now they all were tacitly hesitant and he wasn't sure how to crack the tension. He was going to have to fake it to ease their apprehension. They were  _ allowed  _ to be there, together, sharing. They were sanctioned by Lando and that felt like real validation. Not that anyone had really said anything about it back on the base, besides a few offhand teases from Jess and Snap.

“Come on, guys. We’ve got the whole place to ourselves!” Poe exclaimed, tossing his canvas knapsack on to the floor and flinging both his arms around Finn and Rey’s shoulders. They had been eerily quiet since they had landed, eyes wide and soaking in everything around them. Poe hadn't been there but Finn and hold him about how Rey reacted to seeing greenery for the first time. He had felt himself tearing up at the story, wanting to show Rey all the treasures the universe had to offer because she deserved that wonderment, that joy, that beauty.

The two of them leaned heavily, bodily, into him. It was so comforting in a way he really couldn’t put into words.

“Well, we have some time to kill. We could get some rest if you’d like.” Poe suggested, moving towards the bedroom.

“We slept a lot on the plane.” Finn admitted, side-eyeing Rey for confirmation. She nodded.

“I can think of a few other things to do instead.” She sounded innocent as she spoke but there was a sparkle in her eye that betrayed her true intention. Poe suppressed a shiver at the thought of Rey—young and inexperienced—suggesting something in such an  _ overt  _ way, clearly unafraid.

“Lead the way.” Poe smirked, grabbing her hand. With her other hand, she grabbed Finn and pulled the two of them towards the huge bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will have some Luke/Lando stuff (and some reminiscing about the past which is always fun!!)


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This pretty heavily implies past Lando/Luke. Slightly edited from original posting.

“Do you want to come in, Lando?” Luke asked when he noticed Lando hovering in the threshold with more to say. Lando has really wanted Luke to make the suggestion, though he wasn't sure why it had to be that way. He supposed it ought to be on Luke’s terms because Luke was the one easing back into society. 

“Actually, I was hoping you might come back to my place with me. I’d like to offer some Bespinian hospitality.”

Luke nodded. “I’d be delighted to.” He sounded like he meant it.

The exchange was familiar and inviting, feeling at the same time nostalgic and something completely new. They were entirely different people, but yet, at their cores, they were exactly the same.

Lando’s apartment wasn't far from the embassy building and the two men were silent as they traveled there. He was on the top floor of the building and had a nice view of the city and the sun setting as they got there, streaking in pinks and oranges. Lando, without asking, made some tea for Luke, remembering exactly how he used to take it. 

“Hope your taste hasn't changed much in the past few decades.” Lando laughed as he handed it over.

“Thank you.” Luke said softly before taking a tentative sip of the steaming liquid.

“My pleasure.”

They were silent for a few moments, both of them enjoying their tea. “You know, after everything, after you disappeared, I never expected to see you again. I had resigned myself to it.” Lando couldn't say what else he was feeling, that he was  _ infinitely _ relieved to see Luke’s face, even if he looked so much  _ older  _ and so much more  _ tired _ . It was Luke, no matter what appearances said. But he hope it came through anyway.

“What happened to Mara? I never heard.” Lando spoke again when obvious emotion was welling in Luke’s eyes and keeping him from speaking, lest his voice crack and they both come to tears. Perhaps it wasn't the best topic to switch to but Leia had been tight-lipped about it, saying that it was not her hurt to divulge. He figured Luke might like a familiar, friendly face to talk to about it.

“Casualty of war.” Luke answered after several more sips of the tea.

Lando nodded, ready to accept that as the end of his explanation and tell him what happened to Tendra but Luke spoke again.

“She was a fighter, just like Leia, just like  _ all  _ of us.” He gulped down more tea. “She learned about Ben...what he had become and she couldn't stand for it. She went after him but she underestimated his ability, despite my warnings. I think she knew anyway, but she ignored it because she couldn't believe it. The Force can mislead and she believed it to be misleading her when she saw his power. I can't blame her for this misjudgement. Perhaps I would have felt the same had I not witnessed the sheer power and  _ horror  _ of our nephew.”

Clearly, that was the end of that explanation but it didn't make Lando feel any better. He had known Mara from her days as a smuggler and had grown to like and trust her; he could see exactly why Luke would be drawn to her (given Luke’s previous predilection towards other smugglers he’d known in his life) and understood why he married her. And why Ben killing her would be the final straw that sent Luke into isolation; a large part of the desire to leave must have been wrapped up in his overwhelming loss and grief. Luke and Mara never had children, though Lando knew some part of both of them had wanted to. But everyone saw how much of a difficult time Han and Leia had had with just one child and trying to be there for him. Children had just never figured into their plans.

The two older men were silent for quite some time, watching as the pinks and oranges of sunset faded into the bruised purple and gray of dusk and finally the dark blue of night time.

“And Tendra?” Luke asked, after some time. His voice was soft but gruff from dryness and disuse. Lando tried not to look sad, thankful he and Tendra had had the kind of life where they were able to have and raise two fairly stable children. That didn't mean things were easy, but they had managed.

There was a lot Lando wanted to say about Tendra, things he wasn’t sure if Luke knew, if they’d ever discussed before. So, he figured he’d start at the beginning, just in case.

“I’m old, Luke. So, you’ll have to forgive me if I say something you’ve already heard before.” He started. Luke laughed, nodding along.

“I’m old too. I don’t mind some repetition.” He explained, finally allowing himself to finish off his tea, now that it was cool.

“Tendra was a wonderful woman. But we had a marriage of convenience. I wanted access to funds and to people in higher places.” He laughed then, trying not to sound too bitter. “Anyway, I admired her and I admired her work ethic and her willingness to work with me. We just...worked out. And we were able to have two kids and reach our goals without too much hassle. You know how much work relationships can be.” Lando eyed Luke. Luke had the wherewithal to look slightly sheepish at the obvious jibe at how things had worked out between them.

“I do.” He said quietly.

“She was in politics. She made lots of enemies and I guess some people got the idea that she was a Rebel sympathizer, what with Chance going into the Republic Academy and Corandra being a kind of mercenary who often worked with the Rebels. She was on Hosnian Prime.”

Luke sucked in a breath at that. Clearly, Luke had not been aware of that.

“She never could stay out of politics. Just like Leia. She alway knew the risk.”

Luke nodded, solemn and sad. “I should have known. When we first arrived…”

Lando held up a hand to interrupt him. “Luke, you learned a long time ago when to stay out of my head and that I would tell you when I was ready to tell you.”

“I shouldn't need to  _ be in your head  _ to know when you're hurting.” Luke tried to protest.

“Luke, I loved Tendra. I did. But we also had an understanding. I will miss her as a friend and a partner but I haven't lost my other half. And I still have my children, which was more than I ever expected to have.”

“You are lucky in that.”

“If I didn't know any better, that pack of three you brought along with you sure did seem like they could use a father figure. Or two.” Lando winked at that and he was pleased to see he could still embarrass Luke even at this age.

“You may be right about that.” Luke admitted, staring down into his empty cup and looking like he wanted to ask for more.

“We’re going to be having dinner in about an hour so maybe we can save the second cup for later.”

Luke just nodded, not even bothering to pretend he was going to argue.

“I am training two of them. The girl, Rey, and the former Stormtrooper, Finn, are both Force sensitive.”

“Not as Jedi though.” Lando said, not even a question.

“No. Of course not. The Jedi way has failed us many times over. I simply want to help them learn to focus their skills, since we’re still in a war.” Luke looked hard and sad then, distant and unreachable. Lando understood, he’d always tried to stay neutral so he could be as big of an ally to the Rebels as possible, but he had thought life would have some relative peace after the Battle of Endor, but the seeds of the First Order had already been planted and we're taking root before the Resistance was able to chop down the Empire as close to the ground as they could. What would it take to achieve peace? Distance, according to Luke.

“A noble cause.” Lando said, teasing but sincere nonetheless.

“It took no small amount of coercement from Rey, I must admit.”

“She’s a feisty one, is she?”

“Very strong willed.”

“Sounds a bit like you, when you set your mind to something.”

Luke smiled at that and they caught up for a little while longer before separating to refresh for dinner.

...

They all regrouped in the lobby of the embassy. Finn, Rey, and Poe all looked inexplicably relaxed given the diplomatic severity of the situation. It took everything in Luke’s willpower not to cast his mind out and search for the cause. He had a pretty good idea, though, anyway. Chewie and BB-8 were pacing and looking impatient when the rest of them finally arrived and Luke tried to ignore the rude beeping from BB—likely picked up from R2!—and growling from Chewie. The humans were all looking formal: Luke, Rey, Finn, and Poe were all in their Resistance blues and was Lando in a nice black suit. Luke had to admit, though, that he missed the capes. At least he still kept the charming mustache.

From there, they were transported to the capitol building and escorted into a dining hall with a table set for twenty with six vacancies. The rest of the table was occupied with what must have been Bespinian diplomats. This was certainly not the part that Luke was any good at. The schmoozing and politicking were always left up to Leia. Honestly, Luke still couldn't really eat without looking like a slob and spilling things down the side of his mouth and into his beard. He was certainly an inelegant old man and that was part of the reason Luke had enjoyed his solitude; it gave him the opportunity to do some farming and be alone to eat as he pleased. He recognized that the main reason he was here at this time was because of his... _ history _ with Lando, a kind of bargaining chip since they had separated amicably. He also anticipated that he would be staying on Bespin after whatever arrangement they came here to make was agreed upon. Luke would mostly slow them down on that leg of the journey. He didn't mind getting to spend more time with Lando anyway. 

The staff for the dinner were bustling around, seating the late arrivals and refilling drinks before the arrival of the first course. Luke never got used to the formalities despite how many times  _ Princess _ Leia tried to explain to him the general steps for most intergalactic affairs. He just wanted to prop his feet up on the table and slurp down some warm soup if he could get away with it. Turned out he couldn't when he was buttoned up into the sleek and restrictive Resistance attire. He was happy to note, a little guilty, that Rey looked just about as uncomfortable as Luke felt. They were cut from the same sandy cloth.

The four Resistance representatives were seated in front of a man about Poe’s age who looked quite a bit like Lando did when Luke had first met him. He must be Lando, Jr.

“Chance!” Poe exclaimed up as he saw the main in front of him. He had heard Poe saying he had gone to school with Lando, Jr., so he wasn't surprised by the reaction. The two of them looked like they wanted to embrace but they were separated by the table and Lando, Sr., was seated next to his son. “How are you?” Poe’s face was all lit up and Rey and Finn were watching in awe when their... _ boyfriend? _ shook hands with Chance. 

“I'm wonderful.  _ Wonderful _ . Poe, this is my second in command, Rona Kuren.” Chance gestured at the blue Twi’lek sitting next to him.

“Pleased to meet you, ma’am. Poe Dameron.” Poe said, shaking her hand as well. “Chance, Rona, this is…uh, Finn and Rey.” Poe gestured at the two of them and his face went a little pink despite his usual confidence in everything.

“Holy shit. I know that look, Poe Dameron. You're sweet on one of them.” Chance teased.

Somehow, Poe got pinker and averted his gaze to the table.

“No way.  _ Both _ of them?”

Luke tried very hard not chuckle at the exchange he had just witnessed.

“This is Luke Skywalker.” Poe blurted, gesturing to Luke instead of answering his friend’s rather obvious question.

“It's truly an honor.” Chance switched gears, immediately, giving a slight bow as he shook Luke’s hand.  _ I wonder if he knows I used to have sex with his father _ , Luke thought to himself, carefully putting up blockades in his mind as he shook hands with Chance.

“The pleasure is mine, Chance.” Luke said and then shook hands with Rona. “Rona.” She giggled lightly as his gaze focused on her. He forgot he could still have that effect on people, that he was still that well-known throughout the galaxy. It was flattering, certainly, but it was intimidating nonetheless.

Very shortly after these introductions, the first course was brought out. The whole table fell into polite, diplomatic conversation, strategically avoiding any and all discussion of the Hosnian system.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If you haven't read [chapter 4](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6082497/chapters/16398322) of [Your whole perspective gets hazy](http://archiveofourown.org/works/6082497), you should do so. You don't really have to read the other three chapters (especially because it's kylux and i know that's not everyone's cup of tea) but it's setting up for plot in this fic!

The entire room of consuls was a little tipsy off of Rylothian wine by the time dessert was presented. Well, she wasn't sure Chewie could get drunk at all and BB was in sleep mode under Poe’s feet. Even Rey was feeling the effects of the wine; it was just so easy to say yes when the servers asked if she would like a refill. She wasn’t a fool; she knew that it was polite to agree to as much wine as you could handle and Leia had told them all that most business was conducted under slight intoxication, making everyone a little nicer, a little more agreeable. She didn’t like how foggy her mind was and that the Force inside her was desperately trying to reach out to other minds, but she couldn't deny that she did feel more... _ agreeable _ . But with the Force reaching out like that, she had to admit that she was thinking a little differently about Luke now, after hearing his thoughts throughout the dinner—she thought there was a bit of  _ something  _ between him and Lando when they first landed but she couldn’t have ever guessed the  _ depth  _ of it until then. And she couldn't believe the way he ate—it was worse than her!

Finally, the dinner was over and there were no more excuses. The Resistance representatives would have to make their case. They had mostly given the job to Poe, jokingly claiming it was because he was so beautiful but it really was more that he was a senior officer in the Resistance that had been with the Rebels for quite a while, having seen a negotiation or two. If anyone did, he knew what they were fighting for, what they needed. He was charismatic too, good in front of crowds and had seen Leia in action plenty to know exactly how to put on the extra schmooze. It helped that he knew Chase and that Chase looked as if he was focused very intently on what Poe was saying, though she suspected it could have been  _ something else _ .

She realized she could stretch her mind out toward Chance and see: see if he was thinking about Poe’s lips, about what they could do, or maybe what they had done. But she knew that was a huge invasion of privacy, so she focused, instead, on Finn. He had been so quiet—quieter than Rey, even—just soaking everything in, observing. Rey knew he was filing all this away,  making notes and saving it for later, falling back into the behaviors ingratiated through the Stormtrooper program. She wondered if he had some serious dirt of Kylo Ren, something to take the sting off his fearsome abilities just a little. 

She reached her mind out, brushing against Finn’s. He was nervous and excited and enjoying his alcohol buzz but he was also building a sort of buzz from Poe’s speech, really being moved by it and having his decision to join the Resistance reaffirmed. Rey wanted to project as much love to him as possible, let him know she was proud of him and so glad of the choices he made that got him (and her and Poe) where he was right at that moment.

The room was, indeed receptive, asking very specific logistical questions rather than raising outright rejections. That was a good sign. Though, they all knew this was not for free. Even people as kind as those around them had needs that needed to be met and there would be some kind of arrangement worked out, but the details would be sorted later, behind closed doors, after this advisory counsel had at least agreed that they wanted to make contributions to the Resistance in lieu of a donation to the Hosnian system survivors and families. There was that promise that money going to the Rebels was money going to be given in the name of justice for billions of lifeforms.

It was almost two hours after dinner had ended when the negotiations came to a close. Everyone was looking tired, especially Lando and Luke as they were the two oldest people in the room, and Chance finally stood and dismissed the room.

As everyone was clearing out, Chance came over to Poe and embraced him longer than strictly necessary. Rey didn't know she was capable of it but she felt jealous, jealous of Chance, she supposed, despite having explicit confirmation that she was in a  _ relationship _ with Poe. It was like she wanted to snatch him away from Chance and put her body between them, shielding Poe.

She was startled when she felt a hand on her shoulder from behind. It was Luke and he had A Look in his eyes, really playing up the “mischievous old man” schtick, despite how fast and sharp he really was. Still, he ought to know not to sneak up on a girl from behind.

“Apologies. I thought you had heard me.” Luke looked sheepish and she instantly forgave him. “I just came over to advise you to ease your mind. Poe loves you, I know. You don't have to feel jealous of Chance. They are just old friends.”

“Old friends, like you and Lando?” Rey snapped and she instantly felt bad for it.

“That's a different story.” He conceded, looking over at BB-8 who was circling around Poe’s legs and beeping impatiently.

“I'm sorry, I didn't mean—”

“No, no. It's all right. Not your fault, at all.” He smiled warmly, if a little sad, nostalgic. “I just wanted to ease your worry. I've felt you closing off from the Force all night. I understand the urge, given the effects of the alcohol. I think you're right to start restraining yourself now that you're aware of these abilities and how they loosen when your mind loosens.”

Rey nodded. She wasn't really in the mood for a lesson or lecture. Just wanted to get to bed. That huge bed in their suite had been so comfortable, she couldn't wait to get to actually sleep in it.

“We’ll talk more tomorrow.” Luke said, likely reading her body language more than her thoughts. “For now, you all get some rest.” He called this last bit out towards Finn, who was hovering near Poe, and Poe who was still chatting jovially with Chance. He waved at everyone and left the hall with Lando, Chewie looking a little conflicted about whether or not he should also leave and deciding to stay. Rey was amused, then, suspecting that Chewie knew about the two of them all along. She would have to ask him later, if she remembered.

Finally, the rest of them were transported back to their rooms in the embassy, BB following Poe into their room and Chewie splitting off for his own room. Rey wondered if Luke had even gone back to his room but decided she really didn't want to know.

…

Luke and Lando came to collect them the next morning, telling them they were being escorted to breakfast. Finn was excited at the prospect of breakfast but all three of them felt groggy, not getting enough sleep after how late dinner ran the previous night and how early they were awakened that morning. He couldn't imagine how Lando and Luke were feeling, though they looked chipper as ever. Quickly, the three of them pulled on formal attire and met Lando, Luke, and Chewie in the lobby. From there, they were shown to a private dining area in the embassy. Chance was already seated with his second in command, Rona. The table was set for eight and it felt so small after the huge dinner the previous night, almost claustrophobic. Up until that point, Finn hadn't really thought about it but he had only ever taken meals in large groups, usually only in mess halls with hundreds of others. To have a party whittled down to only eight was a bit discomfiting.

As if she sensed Finn’s discomfort, and she likely had, Rey placed a hand on his shoulder and beamed at him. “It's okay.” She whispered to him and somehow his stress melted a bit. He wondered if she had used the Force to control his mood but he was sure he didn't actually care, way or another. Perhaps he’d done it to himself. It was entirely possible.

Conversation was light, hitting on anything other than what was discussed at dinner and Finn found it rather infuriating. He didn't know why they were dancing around the subject or completely ignoring it. It was just mundane and menial current events, especially staying away from the Hosnian system. He wanted to scream but then he felt Rey’s hand on his thigh. She squeezed and it was calming. Perhaps she was using the Force again, but he didn't mind.  _ It's just politics _ , Rey's voice flashed in his head and it was obvious she was using the Force then. He could do it too, though he’d never tried telepathic communication before.

_ I know. He projected. I just don't see why we can't get to the point _ . He thought, not even sure if it went through. 

_ They have to demonstrate their hospitality? _ She gave the mental equivalent of a shrug instead of doing it physically.

He nodded and kept eating his eggs, this being the best food he’d ever had. He was honestly amazed; it was even better than Resistance food and up until they had come to Bespin that had been the best food he’d ever had, which was not hard given the mostly flavorless nutrient-rich food the First Order had served.

About halfway through the meal, a woman clad in mostly leather sauntered into the room. None of the Bespinians looked up, and really only Rey and Finn’s eyes lingered. Her hair was cut short, at her jawline, and she had a similar skintone to Chance’s. That tipped him off and he squinted at her and then back at Chance and Lando. He could see a resemblance; she must have been a Calrissian.

Finally, everyone finished eating and Chance cleared his throat. 

“As we’ve discussed,” he said in a booming voice that vaguely reminded Finn of Leia when she was addressing a big group, “we are willing to provide the Resistance with food and other supplies. However, we require some assistance with the transportation of Tibanna.”

A hush fell over the room. Finn knew what Tibanna was—highly explosive, highly valuable, mined from the planet. Finn wasn't sure where to look, what to think, so he turned his eyes to Poe and saw that Poe’s eyes were on Luke and Luke’s eyes were narrowed at Lando. Lando, on the other hand, was smiling handsomely. He waved a hand.

“Don't worry, Luke. We create synthetic Tibanna, now. Works exactly the same, doesn't destroy the planet. It's clean in production too but it's a bit more expensive.”

“We’re…” Chance cut in, “not quite as able to deliver outside of the system, as you might be aware. It's cut into our...profit margins.” He seemed a little put out but was trying not to show it.

“We don't have really many who are willing to risk their lives to take the product through First Order territory or anywhere that is not affiliated.” Lando filled in, explaining why Poe and the rest of them were needed for this mission. “We don't have many qualified pilots or ships. And, no one wants to leave.”

Finn understood that. The hardest thing he ever did was leave. But the other implication was that any place that wasn't affiliated was dangerous, full of double agents or First Order sympathizers so it was risky doing any kind of shipments, since they would obviously be from Bespin, which was pretty heavily Rebel-aligned. No one could afford to be caught, so if anyone even tried to barter or sell the Tibanna they had to be sure they could trust their contacts and clients. That was one of the hardest parts.

“That's where I come in.” The woman, who had been quiet since she entered, finally spoke up. She pushed off the wall by the door and stepped forward, her boots clicking on the floor. She winked at Rey and then went to hover between Chance and Rona.

“Corandra.” Chance greeted and the woman laughed.

“Nice to see you too, brov.” She rustled his hair and he ducked away, scowling. He was in the middle of trying to be a dignitary!

“This is my daughter, Cora.” Lando addressed the room at large. “One of the only pilots willing to take shipments. She has some contacts she can but you in touch with.”

“Best if you tell ‘em you're mercenaries though.” She shrugged, standing back up straight. “They don't want no trouble, dealin’ with Rebels.” She looked over the faces of Finn, Rey, and Poe. All three of them seemed to be pretty severe.

“She’ll take over logistics from here.” Chance continued. He and Rona stood up from the table. Everyone else followed suit and BB slipped away to inspect the newcomer, create a new entry into the databank for her, making sure she was a friend and not a foe.

Luke came over to Finn, Rey, and Poe, looking a little sad. “This is where I leave you for now. I am not necessary for this part of your journey, but you know how to reach me if you need me.” He tapped against his temple. “The  _ Falcon _ will be staying here, awaiting your return, as will I.” He looked to Chewie then who gurgled a response. Finn had picked up a little Wookie since he recovered and was able to make out something that indicated that Chewie would be wherever the  _ Falcon _ was. 

Finn understood and didn't blame the Wookie for his decision; it was the closest thing he had to Han now, his home. The thought of Han hurt Finn; he couldn't imagine how Chewie felt.

“We might even get some work done on it!” Luke declared, placing a hand on Chewie’s arm. The Wookie nodded and roared emphatically.

Finn looked over and saw Rey’s eyes were watering. He looked away, back at Luke and Chewie standing side by side, so as not to invade her privacy. Granted, he was sleeping with her but she was still somewhat emotionally closed off, even with him and Poe. She surged forward and hugged Luke tightly and he embraced her with a fond smile.

“I'll be here when you get back.” He assured her, patting her back. She sniffed a little and stood back, allowing Poe to take Luke’s hand and shake it heartily.

“Thank you, sir.” Poe said, defaulting to his military roots.

“Please, call me Luke!” Luke was a bit troubled by being called “sir” but Poe had already moved away, nodding his assent. Then it was Finn’s turn. He could hug Luke or shake his hand and he wasn't sure what was appropriate. He decided to strike up a balance; he shook Luke’s hand and addressed him by his first name but also brought his free hand up and around Luke’s back in a casual hug. It was over quickly but Luke’s face indicated that he appreciated the gesture. If Finn knew anything about his teacher it was that Luke did not appreciate special treatment. He was  _ the _ Luke Skywalker but he was just  _ Luke _ in his own mind.

“Come on, ya rapscallions!” Cora called, addressing Finn, Rey, and Poe. She was standing with a hip out and her arms crossed in impatience. They ignored her in favor of thanking Chance and Lando for their hospitality and hugging Chewie as well.

Finally, it was time for them to start on the next leg of their journey.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of short, but it's getting closer to the end and I really do want to get this finished! I'm thinking...two or three more chapters?

“You're gonna need to change,” Cora told them as the three of them and BB followed her into the lobby. “I'll wait here.” She indicated the hall at large. BB didn't seem so sure of her. He beeped at her and indicated continued monitoring while the three of them changed.

They did so, quickly, and returned with their bags in tow, small and portable. When they had packed initially, they had no idea how long it would be for so they all packed lightly. Fortunately, or not so fortunately, depending on how you looked at it, Rey was quite used to wearing the same set of clothing for an extended period of time that even an extra set was a luxury.

Back in the lobby, BB reported a stasis in Cora’s behavior but Rey felt a warmness towards the little droid for wanting to look out for them. Cora, for her part, didn't even stop to make sure they were ready to go. She was walking and talking, down to brass tax, expecting them to keep up. BB was the one who fell a little behind.

“You're no longer with the Resistance. You can't afford that kind of thinking.” She announced as they exited the building and moved into an alley around the side. “You work for me. You're  _ mercenaries _ , working for whoever pays the highest. You don't know anything, you have no information. And I assume you all have experience with hand to hand combat?” It wasn't exactly a question but the three of them nodded anyway.

Poe was a pilot. Rey had a sneaking suspicion that perhaps he wasn't as prepared in hand to hand as he thought he did. She imagined herself sparring with him, then, and it wasn't altogether unpleasant; she could teach him a thing or two.

Cora brought them to a transporter. It was really more of a cart than the usual transport in Cloud City, just big enough for the four of them with BB in Poe's lap and the luggage in the trunk in the back, but it was fast, taking them all the way across the city, into a darker and seedier area far from where they had initially landed. This part of the journey was silent and Finn found her hand, squeezing comfortingly, though Rey had a sneaking suspicion that it was more for his comfort than hers. He tended to reach out now that he knew he could, that physical contact would not be punished.

The ship they came to was about the same size as the  _ Falcon _ but it was newer and sleeker, with less wear and no markings, just a sheet gray color. There was a group at the stern of the ship loading crates into the cargo bay.

“This is my crew.” Cora motioned toward the group packing in the crates. None of them bothered to wave a greeting, just grunted, possibly not even in response to their arrival. “You'll be getting your own ship.” She then gestured at a slightly smaller ship on the other side of the one being loaded up. 

She turned to the three of them, calculating.

“We need a good pilot.” She was looking at Poe when she said it and Rey felt a spark of anger in her gut. It wasn't Cora’s fault, but she felt dismissed; Cora, of all people, should have known better than to overlook a woman.

“We've got two right here,” she butted in, gesturing between herself and Poe. “And a kriffin’ good marksman, too.” She pointed to Finn. Both men looked a little sheepish at the praise, and a little taken off guard by her swearing, but Rey wasn't going to back down. 

“Do you want two ships?” Cora smirked, leering down at Rey, a good six inches taller than her. It wasn't malicious but Rey felt exposed underneath Cora’s gaze nonetheless. “ _ That _ can be arranged.”

“I think we’ll stick to one,” Poe interjected, sounding a little nervous. Rey couldn't exactly pinpoint the reason he would.

“Well, at any rate, the ships are both  _ civilian _ ships. They don't have blasters. That's why we have to be so careful. You just follow my lead, and you'll do just fine. The areas we’re going are known to be heavily monitored by the First Order.”

Rey felt Finn tense up beside her at the mention of the Order, mentally and physically.

“It's dropped off a little since...” Her sentence dropped off, the destruction of the Hosnian system weighing heavily on everyone’s minds. Rey hadn't meant to intrude but she got a flash from Cora’s thoughts, an image of Cora’s mother.

_ Oh _ .

The three Resistance members nodded tersely instead of commenting. What else was there to say?

“We’ll give you a few minutes to get settled and figure the ship out a little bit but we need you guys to start loading the cargo soon and we need to leave within the hour. We’re on a tight schedule.”

After they got settled, noting the two bedrooms, and both Rey and Poe had a good look at the controls of the ship, they came back out to meet with Cora. She showed them the best way to stack the crates and a wrapping technique that she explained should discourage port authority from checking the cargo.

“On paper, we’re transporting food from the inner planets to our more remote customers. Having them wrapped up like that,” she gestured, will make them less likely to rummage through. Not to mention they can always be bribed if they're not First Order. If they are First Order, we hold our breath and pray they don't feel the need to do a random search.” She smiled big and bright but Rey could see through it. She didn't even need the Force to read between those lines. Cora had seen some things, possibly even had to kill some people. But it was war, so what did you expect.

Cora turned her gaze meaningfully to Finn and Rey saw him tense up.

“You're the marksman, right?” She wanted to confirm.

“Yes, ma’am.” He responded, the pleasantry slipped out at the end, ingrained in him from his days in the Order. She laughed at that.

“I'm hardly a ‘ma’am,’ but thank you. How good are you with a blaster, person to person?”

“Pretty damn good!” Rey spoke up for him then, knowing from first hand and being extremely proud of him and his progress.

“You're the next line of defense if our attempts to move under the radar fail.” She eyed him and pulled a blaster from a holster at her hip. She handed it to him and gestured at a pile of garbage over fifty yards away. “Can you hit that green bottle there in the middle?” She pointed. Finn spotted it.

He nodded and took aim. He sucked in a breath and on the exhale he squeezed the trigger. It all happened in a split second but Rey heard the blaster go off and saw its ray completely obliterate the green bottle. Cora nodded her approval and opened her hand for the weapon back. 

“There's a whole arsenal on the ship. It may come down to hand to hand and you’ll all have to be prepared.” She explained, gesturing towards their ship. “Things could get pretty messy and you'll want that autopilot so try not to use it as much as possible. Shifts.” 

When she looked back over at the warehouse that had contained the crates her crew had been loading, she found it clear. “I guess that's it, then.” She clapped her hands together. “Stay close to me. And when I lie low, there's a reason. Don't question it, don't try to radio me. We go through checkpoints during heavy traffic. Cuts down on the risk. Got it?” She asked all three of them and they nodded in unison. “Then I'll see you at the next stop.”

...

Their first destination was Lothal. This was a planet Poe knew. It had been home to Rebels his parents knew, before the Battle of Yavin: Kanan, Hera, Ezra. People he had known as a child and saw as public figures now. They had been a huge force in expelling the Empire but a landscape that had been destroyed by industry, pillaged for its natural resources, found itself once again in need of some assistance. And, obviously, the Resistance didn't even have the means to bankroll its own operation, much less an entire planet in need.

Last Poe had heard, there had been some conservation efforts and factories had been closed down but that had led to many jobs being lost. The only thing they had to trade was their natural resources, what was left of them, but most of it went to the Order as a kind of service fee. The destination confused Poe a bit, considering he had been informed that they were trying to get the synthetic Tibanna to costumes who could afford to purchase the expensive commodity. Cora, over the radio system, kept it short and noncommittal when she assured him that there were plenty of suitably wealthy clients for the product. It just had to get to them.

Poe didn't have the best feeling about those prospects but they had agreed to do this task, for the Resistance and its continued existence, so he pressed on on the first shift for piloting, Finn and Rey in the back to sleep.

It was several hours in and he was listening to some quiet music to keep him company and chatting with BB, who was in stationary mode and quizzing Poe on some theoretical equations in order to maximize speed and fuel in this new ship he was piloting. The screaming was unmistakably Rey’s. But she hadn’t had a nightmare in weeks, and before that she didn’t scream like that.  _ Is it something else?  _ Poe didn’t hesitate; he put the plane on autopilot and sprinted to the back.

Finn and Rey were in bed, sat up and sweaty. Rey was breathing heavily.

“Seriously guys?” Poe felt a great annoyance itching through him. “You’re being too loud…”

“Poe.” Finn interrupted, “she had a nightmare...or something. We were just asleep.” Finn sounded defensive and Poe felt sorry he had jumped to conclusions.

“Are you okay, Rey?” Poe asked, kneeling on the bed to pull Rey’s head to his chest in his best attempt to comfort her.

“Not really.” Rey had never really learned to lie, even when it was obvious like in this situation. That was something that he found himself appreciating more and more. “I had a dream...through the Force, I think? I can’t tell if it’s a prophecy or if the Force is trying to tell me something. But I was dueling Kylo Ren,” they both shuddered at that and Finn moved in closer to embrace both of them, “and I...I fell…”


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I haven't given up on this! More to come soon!

As they drew closer to their first checkpoint, really just a row of small crafts inspecting the ships passing through, Finn grew more and more nervous. He was watching Rey pilot while Poe napped a little bit in the back. He was starting to feel a bit guilty that he couldn't switch off shifts with them and that inevitably he was going to be sitting around with nothing to do. He decided that he needed to try his hand at piloting but he knew right then was not the time. Maybe when they were back in empty space.

  
The line they were in was quite slow. Just like Cora had indicated, they were entering during high traffic. They had gotten near the checkpoint almost an hour previously but didn't go through until a good amount of ships started to go by. That meant the checkpoint would clog a bit and the guards working it would start to get a little less thorough and a little more sloppy to try to get through all the ships trying to pass. He had to admit, that was a pretty good strategy but obviously not foolproof. What were they really going to do if things went south? Would they blast their way through? How long would it take for that news to reach the Order? Would they immediately have to go on the run, incognito? Hiding from the Order just to survive? They were flying in a group of five, but he still wasn't sure how that would work out. Cora said to follow her lead and honestly it made him glad that he wasn't the one flying. He wasn't sure if he would know how to follow that kind of lead. He trusted Rey and Poe much more.

  
To his infinite relief, they passed through the first checkpoint unscathed. The guard at the station they went through was being guarded by a human and he just asked for their badges, complete with the fake information made up by Cora, and didn't ask to search or inspect the ship in any way. The high traffic really worked in their favor because it was pretty obvious the guard was getting impatient and was ready to get on to the next ship. Or on to the next life. Who knew?

  
Rey had been so concentrated on getting through the checkpoint that she nearly keeled over from exhausting on the other side. Finn moved behind her to rub her shoulders a little and told her to relax.

  
“Maybe not right now, but if we have some down time, do you think you could teach me to fly a bit?” He asked from behind her, nervous to even ask.

  
To his surprised, she nearly jumped out of her seat at the question, the ship dipping almost dangerously to one side at that. Finn was glad he had something to hold on to.

  
“I would love to!” She said, a little out of breath from the thrill of the ship jolting, righting the ship quickly.

  
She chanced a look at him over her shoulder, a huge and goofy smile plastered on her face.  
“I mean, Poe’s taught me a bit but…”

  
“I’d make a better teacher than him!” she shouted, her competitive streak showing.

  
“Oh, you think so?” Poe’s humored voice came from the back as he entered the cockpit.

  
“Maybe.”

  
Finn could hear the smirk in her voice.

  
“You wake up from Rey trying to kill us?” Finn said, ignoring the competitiveness that drove at least part of the relationship between Rey and Poe.

  
Poe rubbed his eyes a bit and nodded before swooping in for a quick kiss from Finn. Then he bent over to kiss Rey on the cheek.

  
“That was weak, Dameron.” she smirked and pulled him back down for a proper mouth-to-mouth kiss.

  
Finn enjoyed the sight.

  
“Why don’t we let Finn take a go at piloting while we have some time to the next checkpoint?” Poe suggested, smirking.

  
“All right,” Rey smirked right back, “pull up a seat, Finn.” she gestured to the space beside her.

  
The control wasn’t activated but the ship had the option of a copilot, due to its size.

  
“Remember what I taught you, buddy.” Poe winked and Finn had to go back into his database to remember how to activate the second control.

  
After a few seconds, it came back to him and he navigated it with relative ease, fumbling a few times when things weren’t quite right but managing to get the control activated. Poe moved to stand in between the two seats, a good vantage point and easy enough for him to jump in if anything went wrong. In an instant, Rey let go of her controls. The ship started to dip and Finn’s heart dropped as he felt one of Poe’s hands slip from the back of the seat to Finn’s chest to try and protect him. Finn yanked the controls up to try to the right the ship but overcorrected initially. Finally, he got it back on track based on the ship in from of them that they knew was part of their convoy. He glanced over to Rey and saw Poe’s other hand in the same protective position.

  
“Kriff,” he breathed out, finally standing up straight, “was that necessary, Rey?”

  
Rey was just barely holding back laughter. “He's doing great!” She assured.

  
Poe seemed like he wanted to say something, to lay into her a little about the severity of the mission but then a radio transmission came in.

  
“Your steering is erratic. Are you okay?” It was Cora’s voice.

  
They all looked at each other and Rey was still fighting to keep her laugher in. Poe responded.

  
“Switching pilots is all.” He said as diplomatically as possible.

  
“Carry on.” Cora said with finality.

  
Then, in the ringing silence, Rey started to crack up, her laughter filling the cockpit. Finn was eternally happy to see her so mirthful, especially compared to the sweat drenched, nightmare-addled specter he saw of her earlier. He knew the thoughts were still lingering and that could be playing a part in why she was acting so strange and reckless. Finn didn't fault her. He was worried.


	15. Chapter 15

A volley of blaster fire pinged off the back wall over their heads as the checkpoint guard shot over the crates stacked in the back of their ship. It was a tight space and the blasts were raining down around them like fireworks. But it was three against one; they were going to win, they just had to corner him.

  
Poe had the most tactical experience, despite mostly being a pilot. He knew how to create a bit of a diversion to let others fan around the guard. Finn went left and Rey went right, toward the hatch of the cargo bay. When Poe was sure they were all in place, he nodded to Finn who stood and fired a shot just over the man’s shoulder. The man hit the deck and his blaster went flying from his hand, skittering across the floor for Rey to jump out and grab it before the man could realize he’d let it go. Then, with the three of them holding blasters at the man and closing in on him, he rolled over onto his back, breathing heavily.

  
“Now,” Poe said, smirking, “how much do you want to keep this quiet?”

  
They had been getting closer to First Order territory and even though they waited over an hour for traffic to build up, it never did in that area. According to Cora, they were on a tight schedule and couldn't wait much longer, so she made the executive decision to press through.

  
See how that turned out, Poe thought, doling out some wupiupi, standard in the Outer Rim, to the man who looked so relieved that he didn’t piss himself.  
Thankfully, that was the last checkpoint they would hit before arriving in Lothal.

…

The sun was hazy peering through the smog as they approached Capital City, from over the water. It was almost sundown so it was that sweet spot of orange over everything. They were all tired and hungry by then but Cora told them they’d need to be awake for a few more hours when it was time to meet up with some buyers. If Cora could make the sale, then they’d be needed to load and unload cargo quickly. Until then, they were free to have a look around the city or “whatever it is you want to do.”

  
“Let’s go grab some grub, at least.” Poe suggested and neither Rey or Finn could disagree, though he could see the fatigue in all of them. BB stayed in low power mode on the ship.  
Once Finn had gotten the hang of piloting, pretty straightforward in hyperspace, he was able to steer for several hours with no real problems, giving Poe a chance to rest while Rey supervised. Still, their shifts had all been pretty short and his whole body felt like it was dragging as they ambled down the street, a hot wind whipping at them around the buildings.

  
They stumbled into a dimly lit restaurant with humans and non-humans alike hunched over bowls. It had a strong, heady scent of aromatic vegetables and meat. Poe breathed in deeply through his nose, pulling in the scent of the soup.

  
“I knew I picked the right place.” He smiled, slinging arms around Finn and Rey.  
“How did you know what was going to be in here?” Finn looked a little impressed.  
They slid into a booth toward the back, closer to the kitchens, all on one side like the obnoxious triad they were.

  
It was the kind of place that didn’t have a menu, didn’t have servers; you just had to go ask for what you knew was there. There were places like that all over the place and they were always the most authentic in Poe’s experience. And as he sat there with Finn and Rey, he realized how much more traveling done and life he’d had compared to them, so young and so kept from the world. While his whole life hadn't been carefree and sunny, given his parents, given the war, but he had gotten to do a good amount of traveling and seeing other planets and cultures. Neither of them really even knew Coruscant culture, much less any other type. So, authenticity was perfect. And he ordered them three “house specials,” smirking at his two dorks as he brought back a tray with a pot and cups for them. He was going to get the Coruscant, yet.

  
The soup and tea was invigorating, just enough to propel them to amble around the city before finally making it back to the place they had stored their ship. Cora had taken care of getting them landed and avoiding inspection via port authority, saying she had several contacts and ways of greasing palms. When they came back, she informed them that she had managed to arrange a trade off. Tibanna for Kyber crystals. The Kyber crystals got them one step closer to getting food and supplíes sent to the Resistance and maybe one step closer to Coruscant.

  
“You have a few hours,” Cora explained, “so get some rest if you can.”

  
The three of them nodded and BB greeted them as they boarded the ship.

  
“Could you set an alarm for three hours from now?” Poe asked kindly, trying not to show his exhaustion to his droid but the droid was observant and concerned.

  
BB chirped, questioning Poe’s state. He replied that he was fine and they just needed the alarm in a few hours. Reluctantly, BB made sounds of assent.

  
The cot in back room of the ship was really meant only for one person, though hey had relatively easily been making room for two. Poe eyed it wearily.

  
“We can all fit, I promise.” Rey assured, laying down first and scooting all the way up against the wall.

  
He supposed she had gotten used to that kind of comfort, up against the inside wall of the abandoned AT-AT. Poe desperately wanted to be in the middle, with Rey pressed up against his back. His eyes slid over to Finn, not sure if he was asking for what he wanted but when Finn nodded he thanked the gods for small miracles when he was that exhausted. He slid in and then Finn. They were all so tired, it didn't matter how tiny the bed really was. 


End file.
